Verb Issue S252 (Aug. 9-15, 2013)

ISSUE #252 – AUGUST 9 TO AUGUST 15

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CULTURE

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SMOKING SALVIA

Exploring what a legal hallucinogen is all about

BROTHERLY LOVE Q+A with The Proclaimers ELYSIUM + THE EAST Film reviews

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER:

FACTOR

On his latest album. 14 / FEATURE PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

NEWS + OPINION

ENTERTAINMENT

CULTURE

Q + A WITH THE PROCLAIMERS Irish rockers speak out. 12 / Q + A

SMOKING SALVIA

OLD MAN CANYON

A breakdown of this legal hallucinogen. 4 / LOCAL

Vancouver rockers’ haunting debut.

LISTINGS Local music listings for August 9 through August 17. 18 / LISTINGS

ELYSIUM + THE EAST The latest movie reviews. 20 / FILM

13 / ARTS

SHAKESPEARE’S BACK!

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS

On the Saskatchewan, that is.

We visit The Colonial and The Hose.

13 / ARTS

22-25 / NIGHTLIFE

CROSSFIT CULTURE Inside the workout phenomenon that’s gone worldwide. 6 / LOCAL

VERBNEWS.COM @VERBSASKATOON FACEBOOK.COM/VERBSASKATOON

EDITORIAL

MENNONITE LOVE

ON THE BUS

Our thoughts on using cell phones to pay for parking. 8 / EDITORIAL

We visit Taunte Maria’s.

Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 26 / COMICS

16 / FOOD + DRINK

COMMENTS

MUSIC

GAMES + HOROSCOPES

Here’s what you had to say about Internet censorship. 10 / COMMENTS

Paper Kites, Close Talker + Cruel Young Heart 17 / MUSIC

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 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / R.A. PARKER + JEFF WILSON

DESIGN LEAD / ANDREW YANKO GRAPHIC DESIGNER / BRANTIN FIX CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / ADAM HAWBOLDT + PATRICK CARLEY

OFFICE MANAGER / STEPHANIE LIPSIT ACCOUNT MANAGER / NATHAN HOLOWATY 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

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

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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 in the room 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 life and 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 United Kingdom, 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. The best way to get to the heart of things is to dig fast and deep to the core, right?

So that’s what I did.

I researched the hell out of salvia. I learned all about its chemical

colour and textures get distorted.

The (L)ight visionary stage results in eyes-closed 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’s “No Woman, No Cry” 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.

I laugh out loud. The sound is distant, with reverb and world-shattering echoes.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

make-up, 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

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.

Pitch black. 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 and reading glasses, 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 Hunter S. Thompson — it’s Hunter 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. The sound is distant, with reverb and world-shattering echoes. 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 king’s tomb.

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. Screw the boxes. I flee the pyramid. Images starts 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 and it’s over.

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.

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5 AUG 9 – AUG 15 @VERBSASKATOON

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LOCAL

CROSSFIT CULTURE

PHOTO: COURTESY OF WWW.CROSSFIT.COM

The workout phenomenon that’s gone worldwide BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

I

It’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 wonderful 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

6 AUG 9 – AUG 15 NEWS + OPINION

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

Listening to Cain speak, you might 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 nearby 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.,” he says. “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.

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

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

JASON CAIN

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.

together, we all support each other.

Classes start together and finish 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 them on, shout encouragements, because we all know how hard it is 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.”

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7 AUG 9 – AUG 15 /VERBSASKATOON

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EDITORIAL

PARKING POWER

PHOTO: COURTESY OF INCASE

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 oftaggravating ordeal of finding, paying for, and then returning to top up an available metered spot. After all, Saskatoon 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 Saskatoon 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, Saskatoon operates metered parking stalls six days a week (Monday to Saturday), from 9am until 6pm. Requiring quarters, loonies or toonies to work, these meters will let you park your car for 90 minutes to two hours, depending on the area. There was a time when you could call and navigate a voice menu to pay for your meter, but the contract with the company that provided that service expired and there have been no motions to replace it. 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.

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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.”

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, #251 (August 2, 2013)

– 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.

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

– 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.

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #251 (August 2, 2013)

– 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

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fute their policies. I suspect that’s why you run the story.

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #251 (August 2, 2013)

– 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.

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #251 (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.

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #251 (August 2, 2013)

– To the person last week who said cameras on cops is a huge invasion of privacy. What do cops do when arresting or questioning someone that they need privacy from their superiors or the public? I think it’s an excellent idea for camera’s on cops so they can be held accountable in those rare circumstances.

In response to “Policing the Police,” Editorial, #250 (July 26, 2013)

– Your “newspaper”, using that term loosely, only has two writers, 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 “Policing the Police,” Edito-

– Park and Ride more than bridges would solve traffic congestion on Saskatoon’s main streets during rush hours. Leave the car at the mall and take the bus dowtown.. schedule buses every 15 minutes during peak hours.

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

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

rial, #250 (July 26, 2013)

SOUND OFF – What Joni Mitchell said about our city is absolutely correct.

Saskatoon is full of bigots. There is more racism here then all of Canada

– Don’t count your chickens before they Atch. WH

NEXT WEEK: What do you think of making parking meters smart phone compatible? 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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Q+A

BROTHERLY LOVE PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MURDO MACLEOD

Scottish duo the Proclaimers release ninth album, talk twenty-five years of music BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

I

t has been an busy year for Charlie and Craig Reid.

Known to most people as the Proclaimers, the Scottish singers and songwriters have been celebrating their twenty-fifth year as a working band by working harder than ever. After releasing their ninth studio album, Like Comedy, last year, the twin brothers went to work on a compilation, The Very Best Of The Proclaimers, which is scheduled for release in North America later this year and will stand as a testament to all they have accomplished. And while the band has had several songs transcend the boundaries of rock and roll, chief among them “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” the brothers have spent the last two decades chucking out great song after great song. I caught up with Charlie, who can be distinguished onstage by his guitar, to learn a bit more about what the Proclaimers have been up to.

Alex J MacPherson: Looking at the latest record and this point in your lives and careers, it feels like you and Craig are simply interested in writing the best songs that you can write.

Charlie Reid: In all honestly, that was the only real concrete ambition.

When we signed the first recording deal with Chrysalis

back in ’87, we were unemployed, and we didn’t want to be unemployed any more; we wanted to go out and just play gigs, and hopefully build a small following, and not have to be on the dole anymore.

The really long-term thing was to get better at what we did, and I think we’ve done that, particularly over the last three or four records.

select an overview of our experience and our career.

AJM: One constant thread running through your career is this focus on vocals and on lyrics. You’ve got these lovely musical backdrops, but ultimately it’s the lyrics that are in the spotlight.

CR: I suppose we’re traditional in the way we put a lot of things together.

I wouldn’t call us perfectionists …

When it comes to getting the words, the words have got to feel right. The song has got to be the right tempo to let the words be heard. I think it needs to come across right. You should be able to sing the song just with a guitar and the two of us.

AJM: Which probably made picking songs for the compilation, The Very Best Of The Proclaimers, an interesting experience. Songwriters tend to look forward, but you had to look back.

CR: There’s been nine studio albums, and you look back a little bit when you put a tour together.

With this, we really wanted it to run like a gig, a long gig, to feel like

AJM: Broadly speaking, Like Comedy has some uptempo rockers and some

You want to write the killer song … but you also want to write the original song.

CHARLIE REID

ballads. Was it intentional to sort of split it down the middle that way?

a performance — and also to be a statement of where we were 25 years ago and where we are now.

So it’s difficult. There were some tunes we chose when we could have chosen others. But you can’t put them all on; you’ve just got to

CR: You want to write the killer song, obviously, but you also want to write the original song. Originality’s important to us. I suppose when

we do a gig the majority of what we do is uptempo, but we have written a lot of ballads over the years as well, and I think that’s an important part — I’m always suspicious of people who only ever have happy songs or only ever have sad songs.

It just strikes me as somewhat odd.

from that. We were always determined to sound the way we were and not alter anything at all. So the accent comes across. And I think for us it was about performance — something that communicates with people. It was just honest, and I think that resonates with people.

AJM: In a lot of cases, bands from the U.K. have trouble in North America. What has allowed the Proclaimers to flourish here for more than two decades?

The Proclaimers August 22 @ The Odeon $29.50+ @ Odeon Box Office or theodeon.ca

CR: I think the lyrics have helped.

Hopefully there’s some humour in what we do, something that makes the songs stand out. Also, we sound different. We can never get away

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ARTS

PHANTOMS & FRIENDS

A haunting debut from Vancouver group Old Man Canyon

J

ett Pace, a singer and songwriter from Vancouver, spent the last four years making music with a rotating cast of friends and acquaintances. Late last year, he decided to strike out on his own. “It was the first time I got to be completely free with the creative process,” he says of Phantoms & Friends, the EP he released under the moniker Old Man Canyon. “Being alone with your vision is a really powerful place to be in. It’s often scary to begin something on your own, but diving into it without doubt is infinitely rewarding.”

Phantoms & Friends, which was released in April, consists of five

BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

sepulchral songs Pace spent the best part of a year writing, gentle meditations on the past and the present. Although the sparsely beautiful arrangements land somewhere between brooding alt-country and darkly jubilant pop, Pace says he was open to ideas — and that most of the sounds on the record are the product of his collaboration with producer, and now band member, Dave Meszaros.

“We really took our time creating the record and just experimenting with anything we felt called to try,” he says. “With that freedom to just play around, I think some really pure great stuff came out of it.” The songs on Phantoms & Friends are generally

simple, but the arrangements are sublime: sparse yet rich, foreboding yet strangely compelling.

Like Elliott Smith, who routinely double-tracked his vocals to add another layer of depth and complexity, Pace is fond of layered vocals.

The arrangements on Phantoms & Friends are powered by guitars and pianos, but derive their strength from soaring choruses, the sound of many voices singing as one. This is most evident on the title track, as a series of austere guitar chords swell into the soaring chorus, the tension amplified by an airy gang vocal.

Ultimately, Phantoms & Friends is about the rupture between past, present, and future. Pace wrote most

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

of the songs at a difficult time in his life — “I was going through some big shifts,” he says — yet the path to redemption is never blocked by despair. “For me this collection of songs is really about just surrendering to that unknown future and being okay with where you are,” Pace muses. “It’s about trusting that the

next step will present itself when you are ready to see it.” Perhaps more than anything else, Phantoms & Friends proved to Pace that the path is now clear.

Old Man Canyon August 16 @ Amigos Cantina Tickets at the door

SHAKESPEARE ON THE SASKATCHEWAN

Artistic director Mark von Eschen on the growth of Saskatoon’s classic summer festival

M

ark von Eschen has been a part of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan for more than two decades. In that time, the current artistic and executive director has seen the annual festival celebrating the greatest writer of them all grow from a small celebration of Shakespeare’s titanic legacy into a provincial institution and an unmistakable sign of summer in Saskatoon. He remembers 1990 as a pivotal year.

“The first year that I was involved was the first year we

had flush toilets, and that was a big thing,” he says with a laugh, explaining that in the beginning audience members were required to bring their own chair. Since its inception, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan has had what von Eschen calls “a number of financial crashes” — yet it has survived and flourished. “The first year I worked for the company, we were at 180 seats in the main tent. Now, we’ve grown to 282 seats doing two fullscale productions in repertory.”

“For quite a few years we tried to get into the B-string plays, and

BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

I was looking at things in terms of balancing risk and adventure,” von Eschen says. “Since last year, we’re turning back toward the curriculum plays again, because the truth of the matter is you can have a fabulous production of Henry IV, but as soon as you put a man’s name with a number behind it, people stay away in droves.”

But this problem is not limited to Shakespeare’s histories. For years, Shakespeare has been perceived as “difficult,” probably because his language sounds dated. This is a misconception, von Eschen insists.

“Shakespeare is part of who we are, part of our basic culture,” he says. “We might understand ourselves better if we understand that connection.”

This is why this year’s productions — Macbeth, a cautionary tale about the corrupting influence of choosing the easy path, and A Comedy of Errors, a finely wrought farce about mistaken identity — as well as the rest of Shakespeare’s works are so important.

“People sometimes ask me, ‘Why don’t you do Shakespeare with English accents?’” von Eschen muses. “The reason is that Shakespeare is about us. It’s not about people long ago and

far away. All of his stories are about people we know, and one of the great joys of doing a contemporary version of Shakespeare is that it makes it easy to make that connection.”

Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Through August 25 @ the riverbank, near the Mendel Art Gallery $20+ @ shakespeareonthesaskatchewan.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

ments and a collective desire to expand beyond the lines of genre and style have made the

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

GRAHAM MURAWSKY

the most innovative producers in the country. It is also an example of how hip hop is growing and evolving. Technological advance-

music industry more democratic than ever before; Factor is on the leading edge of these changes because he refuses to be limited CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

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by convention or tradition.

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

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

hard to avoid — life and death, 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 29 @ The Hollows $TBD

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FOOD + DRINK

MENNONITE MUNCHIES Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt

Taunte Maria’s serves tasty, homemade cooking BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

T

he Mennonite religious group was named after Menno Simons, an Anabaptist religious leader in the 1500s.

I know this because it’s typed in black ink on the white laminated menu I’m holding.

Where I am is Taunte Maria’s, a Mennonite family restaurant on Quebec Avenue. It’s a quaint little place, the kind of place you feel at home in. It features a maroon and green colour scheme, an old green and white stove near the kitchen, and an antique sewing machine by the door. There are benches along the walls, tables in the centre and a menu with loads of information on it. Information that was previously unknown to me.

For example: did you know the German Mennonites speak low-German (Plautdietsch), a language that is relatively young? Yeah, me neither.

Or how about rebspaa, kjielkje, plumemoos and rollkucken? You know what they are? I didn’t, but according to the menu they are all Mennonite dishes — spare-ribs, noodles, fruit soup and fritters, respectively.

Eager to sink my teeth into some Mennonite food, I scanned the menu looking for something that caught my eye. The cottage cheese vereniki (cheese pockets) certainly did. So too did the schinkenflesh (ham steak with pineapple) and the Taunte Maria’s special (six perogies, two cabbage rolls, two pieces of farmer sausage, sour cream and grilled onions). But in the end I

went with a dish called Noodlin Mett Schmaunfat.

Sounds fancy, right? It’s not. Nor is it meant to be. Taunte Maria’s isn’t the kind of restaurant that relies on fancy names and fancy dishes. Nah. What you get when you sit down in one of their maroon booths is unpretentious homemade cooking.

Just like mom makes.

And you know what? It’s pretty darn good.

The Noodlin Mett Schmaunfat was a heaping plate of homemade noodles smothered in cream gravy and served with fried onions and thick, juicy strips of perfectly cooked bacon. And in case you’re wondering, the bacon was the star of the dish. (But then again, when isn’t it?) The rest of it was good, sure. But the bacon brought the whole meal together.

It came with a side of summa borscht, which the waitress told me “is THE soup to have around here.”

She wasn’t kidding. With huge pieces of potato and farmer sausage, and laced with dill, this soup was one big bowl of smoky, dilly deliciousness.

Man, I wish my mom knew how to make soup like that.

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE ST. DILL MARTINI

INGREDIENTS

Are you a martini fan? If so, what’s your favourite kind? A regular martini? Dry martini?

A blind pilot, a gimlet, an Irish martini? Personally, I like my martinis dirty. So here’a slight variation on an old favourite.

2 oz vodka .5-1oz kosher pickle brine vermouth (splash) 10 mustard seeds 1 baby kosher dill pickle 1 sprig of dill

Taunte Maria’s 8-1724 Quebec Avenue | (306) 343-3334

DIRECTIONS

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Put vodka, pickle brine, vermouth and mustard seeds in shaker with ice.

Shake well. Skewer the pickle, add to a chilled martini glass. Pour in the martini. Garnish with dill and serve.

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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MUSIC

NEXT WEEK

COMING UP

CLOSE TALKER

CRUEL YOUNG HEART

PAPER KITES

@ VANGELIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 – $10

@ AMIGOS THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – $TBD

@ AMIGOS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – $10

These exciting, up-and-coming indie-rockers are certainly making a name for themselves. Although Will Quiring, Matthew Kopperud, Chris Morien, and Jeremy Olson have only been on the scene for a short while, their debut album, Timbers, bespeaks an incredible talent that has only just been tapped into. Featuring a lush soundscape layered with edgy vocals and luxurious melodies, Timbers resonates with listeners, leaving them wanting more. Don’t thing these four young guys are just a studio band, though. Thanks to hours spent honing their live performances on stages across Western Canada, Close Talker is certainly a group to check out in person. Hit them up when they blow the roof off Vangelis next week. Tickets at the door.

Cruel Young Heart is a pop rock trio hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. Formed in 2010, the band has recently dropped their selftitled EP, engineered and produced out of the famed Mushroom Studios.

This three-piece — James Blackmon (vocals), Andrew Blackmon (drums) and Mark Armstrong (guitar), offers sharp and catchy songs that are laced with thick drums, wicked lyrics and a seductive blend of dance synth and guitars. Known as a band whose style is as appealing as their tunes, their live shows offer an aesthetic and sonic escape you won’t soon forget. These guys are emerging on the fast track to success, so head on down to Amigos to catch ‘em doing what they do best. Tickets available at the door.

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, folk indie darlings The Paper Kites are poised to have quite the summer. Following on the heels of their first two EPS, Woodland and Young North, the quintet — which features the talents of Sam Bentley, Christina Lacy, Dave Powys, Sam Rasmussen and Josh Bentley — are releasing their first album at the end of August.

States is a remarkable debut record, drenched in sonic soundscapes and diverse textures, as evidenced on the infectious single “St. Clarity” or the seductive rock flourishes of “A Lesson From Mr. Gray.” The Paper Kites will be touring this new record this fall, so catch their show with Reuben and the Dark at Amigos at the beginning of November. Tickets available through ticketedge.ca.

– By Jeff Wilson

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: THE ARTIST/ THE ARTIST/ 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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LISTINGS

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

S

M

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T

9

10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

FRIDAY 9 HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover WEAK ENDS / Amigos Cantina — These hardcore punk rockers from Saskatchewan are having their album release party! 10pm / Tickets at the door DJ AASH MONEY / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws down a high-energy top 40 dance party every Friday night. 9pm / $5 SCREAMLYNE / Buds — A badass Saskatchewan rock quintet. 9pm / Cover TBD 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

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 PENNY REIGH / Piggy’s — A little badass rock to start your weekend off right. 9pm / No cover JENNIFER LANE / Prairie Ink — A singersongwriter and poet from Saskatchewan.

8pm / No cover STUCK IN THE ‘80S! / Prairieland Park Exhibition — Hit up the Bud Big Rig beer gardens for some ‘80s classics.

GREAT BIG SEA / Prairieland Park — Iconic Canadian rockers! 8:30pm / Free with Ex admission WEST OF HELL, WRATHED, LAVAGOAT / Rock Bottom — It’s the Demon Sent 2013 Tour.

9pm / Cover TBD DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests. 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 CLASSY CHASSYS / Vangelis Tavern — This local rockabilly four-piece will bring you a little rock, blues, punk and jazz. Also appearing are rock act Blackwater. 10pm / $10

DJ AASH MONEY + DJ CTRL / Béily’s — These two DJs throw down a high-energy top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 cover SCREAMLYNE / Buds on Broadway — A badass Saskatchewan rock quintet. 9pm / Cover TBD SATURGAY NIGHT / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes. 10pm / $5 DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — 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 FACTOR / Odeon Events Centre — This local hip hop producer will be rocking it at the Odeon. 9pm / $15 DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 WAYNE BARGEN / Prairie Ink — Rocking some finger-style acoustic guitar and a set of originals. 8pm / No cover BURTON CUMMINGS / Prairieland Park — The Guess Who’s frontman will be playing the SaskTel Grandstand for the Ex! 8:30pm / Free with Ex admission 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 PENNY REIGH / Piggy’s — A little badass rock to start your weekend off right. 9pm / No cover

SATURDAY 10

HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes all night. 9pm / No cover

MOSTLY WANTED / Rock the Bottom — Also appearing are special guests We Are Prototypes. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ ANCHOR / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD SEXY SATURDAYS / Tequila — A night of hot tunes. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ THORPDEO / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD ADOLYN, BREATHE KNIVES, CATGUT, SOUL MATES / Vangelis Tavern — A hardcore night with badass bands from Calgary, Edmonton and beyond. 9pm / $10 JAMAICAN REGGAE AND DUB PARTY / The Woods. Bringing a little island heat to Saskatoon. 9pm / No cover

SUNDAY 11

INDUSTRY NIGHT / Béily’s — Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm BLUES JAM / Vangelis Tavern — The Vangelis Sunday Jam offers great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm / No cover

MONDAY 12

GORGEOUS BLUE DOGS / Buds — Get your night started right! 9pm / Cover TBD DJ AUDIO / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD

TUESDAY 13

THE SEEKERS / Buds — This four-piece will blow your mind! 9pm / Cover TBD DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce — 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 OPEN MIC / Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover

WEDNESDAY 14

HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr will be spinning all of your favourite songs. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter THE SEEKERS / Buds — This four-piece will blow your mind! 9pm / Cover TBD DJ MEMO / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm 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 WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws — Hosted by DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman.

9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / No cover KALLE MATTSON / Vangelis Tavern — Some folk rock from a musician from Ontario. Also appearing is Six Moons Later. 9pm / $10 door, $8 advance

THURSDAY 15

MAJICAL CLOUDZ / Amigos —A musical project and performance event you don’t want to miss. Also appearing are Moon King.

9pm / TBD DAYBREAK / Buds — Badass tunes for your listening pleasure. 9pm / Cover TBD

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THROWBACK THURSDAYS / Earls — With Dr. J. 8pm / No cover DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm THUNDER RIOT W/CONKY SHOWPONY / Rock Bottom — Come dance the night away.

9pm / $5 HEARD IN THE MOUNTAINS / Rock Bottom — With special guests The Pistol Whips.

9pm / Cover TBD TRIPLE UP THURSDAYS / Tequila — Featuring DJ Dislexic. 9pm / Cover TBD OPEN STAGE / The Woods — Hosted by Steven Maier. 9pm / No cover JEN LANE / Vangelis — Also appearing is Sarah Burton. 9pm / $10

FRIDAY 16

HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover OLD MAN CANYON / Amigos — Also appearing is Kirby Criddle. 10pm / TBD DJ AASH MONEY / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 SCREAMER / Buds on Broadway — High energy classic rock. 9pm / Cover TBD BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/ vocal house music. 10pm / $5 DJ ECLECTIC / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover DJ STIKMAN / Jax — Kick off your weekend with all your favourite party hits.. 9pm / $5

DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm JOMAMA / Piggy’s — A rock and country trio. 9pm / No cover NEIL ROSTON / Prairie Ink — A blues and folk duo. 8pm / No cover TERRI ANN STRAONGARM / Stan’s Place — Country tunes. 9pm / Cover TBD 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 PURDY BIRD + MORE / Vangelis Tavern — Start your weekend off right. 10pm / $8

SATURDAY 17

HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover DUMB ANGEL+ MORE / Amigos — Four hot acts for one hot price. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ AASH MONEY + DJ CTRL / Béily’s — These two DJs throw down a high-energy top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 cover 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. 9pm / $5 cover DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 JOMAMA / Piggy’s — A rock and country trio. 9pm / No cover WIRES AND WOOD / Prairie Ink — A local trio that rocks. 8pm / No cover THE USUAL + MORE / Rock Bottom — A night of heavy, awesome tunes. 8pm / $15 TERRI ANN STRAONGARM / Stan’s Place — Country music for your soul. 9pm 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 — A night of hot tunes. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ THORPDEO / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD CLOSE TALKER / Vangelis — These four guys’ star is on the rise, so get out and see them do their thing. Also appearing is Boreal Sons.

10pm / $10 BRIAN MCAREAVEY / The Woods — Acoustic is where it’s at. 9pm / No cover

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HANGING BY A THREAD PHOTO: COURTESY OF TRISTAR PICTURES

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 and the blights of the Earth below are a distant memory. This is the premise

gangster, to help him sneak aboard Elysium, where advanced medical techniques can save his life. The plan revolves around an attempt to kidnap his former boss, played by William Fichtner, 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

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

109 MINUTES | 14A

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

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

R.A. PARKER

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

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.

DeCosta is not some political crusader;

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THE EAST Slick new thriller asks how much is too much. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT PRODUCTIONS

W

hen it comes to revenge, how far is too far?.

That’s the question The East — a slick, grimy espionage thriller by Zal Batmanglij — asks of the audience.

And how you answer that depends on your political agenda, your social/ environmental concerns, your comfort with violence, your sense of right, your moral code, etc., etc.

See, The East is about a group of eco-terrorists who cling to the

commit serious acts in the name of saving the environment.

If you can even call them a group.

Led by a long-haired, bearded dude named Benji (Alexander Skarsgård) these eco-terrorists (who call themselves The East) resemble a cult more than they do any activist group.

Benji radiates personal magnetism and people flock to him and become his followers, living with him in a cabin in the deep woods of Louisiana (or at least that’s where the film was shot).

[The East] is taut … and has its finger firmly planted on the pulse of our times.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

old “eye for an eye” adage — especially when it comes to getting even with the people they perceive to be wrongdoers in society.

See, when a pharmaceutical firm releases a new drug with horrible side effects, the eco-terrorist group decides to force the bosses of that firm to overdose on their own drug. When a corporation is found responsible for dumping poison in waterways, the group shoves the higher-ups into those toxic waters. When a major oil company has a spill, the group floods the CEO’s mansion with oil. You get the picture. This is a serious group who

Needless to say, people in positions of power aren’t really picking up what The East is putting down.

So a private security company decides to send a spy to infiltrate their cult (ahem! I mean group) and take them down. Enter Sarah (Brit Marling, who co-wrote the screenplay with Batmanglij).

As the star of this show, Sarah leaves her boyfriend (Jason Ritter) behind and starts living off the grid in hope of coming into to contact with The East.

Eventually she does and is welcomed into the group. Soon, like everyone else, she falls under the

THE EAST Zal Batmanglij Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page + Patricia Clarkson DIRECTED BY STARRING

116 MINUTES | PG

spell of Benji and things begin to happen.

What things? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out. But rest easy knowing that The East is a pretty darn good thriller. It’s taut and gritty and has its finger firmly planted on the pulse of our times. It’s also hip and cool. Everything you want a thriller to be.

In fact, it had the potential to be a great thriller. One of the best of the last few years. Problem is, though, in the third act of the movie, instead of ramping up the tension and pushing the audience to a breaking point, Batmanglij and Marling decided to get preachy. Enviro-preachy. Which, in and of itself, is fine (we all have our viewpoints). But it really took the piss out of an otherwise vigorous — and well-acted — thriller.

The East is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 @

THE COLONIAL

Colonial Pub & Grill 3-1301 8th Street East (306) 343 8881

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 @

THE HOSE

The Hose & Hydrant 612 11th Street East (306) 477 3473

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

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CROSSWORD CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

© WALTER D. FEENER 2013

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

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

21. Good judgment SUDOKU ANSWER KEY 24. Corrode A 26. Had a meal 28. It’s like a doughnut 29. Lose traction 30. No longer interested 31. Having no key, in music 33. Multiply by three 34. Conical tent B 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

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

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.

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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