Verb Issue S272 (Jan. 10-16, 2014)

Issue #272 – JANUARY 10 to january 16

arts

culture

music

saskatoon

DAVE GUNNING

+

DIY books Inside the world of do-it-yourself publishing double trouble Q+A with Comments and Concerns

lone survivor + her

Films reviewed­

Photo: courtesy of Naomi Campbell

NEWs + Opinion

contents

DIY publishing Do it yourself publishing on the prairies. 4 / Local

the truth about witches Inside the world of Wicca. 6 / Local

flight fail

On the cover:

Our thoughts on changing flying in Canada. 8 / Editorial

No more pennies. 16 / cover

Here’s what you had to say about revamping the CBC. 10 / comments

dave gunning

comments

Photo: courtesy of naomi campbell

culture

Q + A with comments and concerns On their double EP release. 12 / Q + A

pink floyd, redux

a whole lot of good

The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon like you’ve never heard it before. 14 / Arts

We visit the Wok Asian Restaurant

here on future earth Joi Arcand’s ambitious installation 15 / Arts entertainment

18 / Food + Drink

music J Cole, Magneta Lane + Kings of Leon. 19 / music

live music listings Local music listings for January 10 through January 18. 20 / listings

lone survivor + her

on the bus

We review the latest movies 22 / Film

Nightlife Photos

Games + Horoscopes

The Long Branch + Rook & Raven

Canadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 31 / timeout

24 / Nightlife

verbnews.com @verbsaskatoon facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 30 / comics

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 / Bryce Kirk Contributing Photographers / Patrick Carley, Adam Hawboldt + Ishtiaq Opal

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 /

Please recycle after reading & sharing

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verb magazine

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Do-It-Yourself publishing

Photos: Courtesy of michael cuthbertson + Taylor Lambert

Saskatchewan authors and the world of self-publishing

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

I

t was never really a question in Michael Cuthbertson’s mind.

As a guy who works on zines and a lover of early punk rock music, Cuthbertson is a big fan of the do-it-yourself mentality. So before he finished his debut novel, Saskatoon Girls, earlier this year, the Saskatoon-based author knew he didn’t want to walk the traditional publishing route.

Submitting his manuscript to a publishing house was not an option.

“When I was younger and saw things that were independently put out, like punk music, I saw virtue in that,” says Cuthbertson. “I thought it was awesome they didn’t need to get the approval of big investors or corporations. They just had a vision and they saw it through to the end.”

Cuthbertson wanted the same for his vision, a coming-of-age book of sorts. Saskatoon Girls is a novel inspired by Cuthbertson’s own life, which tells the story of a young man entering adulthood, living on his own, and learning about adult relationships, drugs and life. He started the novel three years ago while still a student at the University of Saskatchewan.

For the better part of last year he edited the book with the help of a friend. Then, when the time came to send his vision out into the world, Cuthbertson did like so many people are doing these

days — he self-published. “A lot of people self-publish because they don’t get picked up by traditional publishing houses,” says Cuthbertson. “And, honestly, I didn’t even try to go to big publishers … I’m a bit of a control freak, especially when it comes to creative endeavours. So I went with self-publishing.

That way, I could realize my vision.

I could see it through from beginning to end, and there wouldn’t be a whole lot of people with their hands on the project who didn’t really care about it.”

Here Cuthbertson pauses, collects his thoughts, and says, “With me, this book is my baby. My pet project. So getting to oversee everything really made it better creatively.”

But it was no easy task.

After finishing the final edit, Cuthbertson took the next two or three months getting the book ready to be sent to CreateSpace, a self-publishing company owned by Amazon. To do this, he had to format the entire book, lay it out, and get a cover created.

Basically, he had to do all the behindthe-scenes legwork that traditional publishing houses do for you.

And soon his novel will arrive in big brown boxes at his door. But that won’t be until later this month, after which he’ll throw a launch party at Beaumont Film and Record on January 24th. Until then, it’s a waiting game.

To get an idea of what happens after the wait is over, all Cuthbertson has to do is look at another Saskatchewan author who self-published in 2013 — Taylor Lambert.

There’s no denying that 2013 was the year of the self-publisher.

Conservative estimates put the number of self-published titles in the hundreds of thousands. And that’s just in Canada alone.

Compare that to the 20 or 30,000 titles put out by traditional publishers last year, and it’s easy to see that selfpublishing is something of a phenomenon. A phenomenon made possible by the popularity of e-readers.

At Kobo, on a weekly basis, selfpublished books accounted for 10% of total sales. To put that into perspective, that 10% is roughly the equivalent of the total number of sales that Random House (Canada’s largest publisher) does in a week.

And it isn’t just Kobo that’s experiencing this kind of success with self-published titles. Over at Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader, 14 selfpublished books sold more than a million copies in 2013.

That’s where you can find Taylor Lambert’s second book, Leaving Moose Jaw. You can also find it in random book stores in Saskatoon, Calgary and Toronto.

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But getting it into stores was more difficult than you may think.

Leaving Moose Jaw is non-fiction tale about a five-month journey that Lambert took to India. A journey that’s spanned thousands of booze, drugs, sex, and rock and roll-filled kilometres, from smog-choked cities to pristine island paradises.

“For quite some time after India I strongly denied I was going to write a book,” says Lambert. “I went to India after I had something of a minor nervous breakdown as a sportswriter in Moose Jaw. I quit my job and fled the country with an old drinking buddy from Montreal,

to publish it. But unlike Michael Cuthbertson, he wanted to go the traditional route and get picked up by an established publishing house.

“I started shopping it around to every small and medium-sized publisher in the country,” says Lambert. “Nobody wanted it.

Which seemed surprising to me. It wasn’t so much ego as I felt that it was certainly a reasonably strong manuscript. I’d had a lot of great responses from professional writers and friends and so forth. I figured there was a market for it.”

According to publishers, though, there wasn’t.

So Lambert began researching the idea of self-publishing. The

I liked the idea of having complete control over layout, the font, and style… taylor lambert

with absolutely no plan whatsoever. Spent the next five months seeing amazing stuff, getting into amazing trouble. Doing my best, even though I had no idea what to do with any of it, to take very detailed notes about everything we did and saw.”

Eventually, while working in Saudi Arabia, Lambert decided to put those notes to use and write a book. When he arrived back in Canada, he decided

more he read, the more the idea appealed to him.

“I liked the idea of having complete control over layout, the font, and style and the marketing. Absolutely everything,” says Lambert. “I knew it would be fun, but it would also be a ton of work.”

Especially after the book was sent to the same company, CreateSpace, that published Cuthbertson’s book.

“How many books do you order?

How do you sell these books? At what point do you start thinking about launch events?” says Lambert. “Basically, I just made it up as I went along. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no guidance from anyone who had done this before.”

What Lambert did was he organized a launch event for his book in Calgary, took to social media to get the word out about his book, and tried to get it on shelves in bookstores around the country.

This last task proved to be rather daunting.

“It was very difficult,” Lambert admits. “It was important for me to support local bookstores and keep it out of big chain bookstores. It was basically me going there and saying ‘Hi! You have no idea who I am, but I’m a local author and I got this book and, ummm, would you like to have it on your shelves?’ ... I got a lot of no’s from bookstores all over the place.”

Why did he have such a hard time? Well, part of the reason is that self-publishing still has some stigma attached to it. “[Self-published books] do have a reputation for bad writing and bad production,” says Lambert, who, because of a background in journalism and editing wasn’t worried about that with his book. “And some of that reputation, some of that stigma is justified. I was at McNally Robinson dropping off some books they’d ordered, filling out the necessary pa-

perwork at the front desk, and I saw a stack of books sitting there. And there was a typo in the title. I pointed it out, and the girl [at the desk] said, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s a self-published book.’”

And while this problem will continue to persist in the world of self-publishing, there are also success stories that are beginning to lend this type of publishing an air of legitimacy. Success stories like E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey and James Redfield’s

The Celestine Prophecy. Success stories that will, no doubt, continue to encourage hundreds of thousands of Canadian authors to self-publish in the foreseeable future.

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Photo: Courtesy of facebook

The Truth about Witches

When it comes to Wicca and witchcraft, there are no shortage of misconceptions

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

W

hen you finish reading this paragraph, close your eyes and conjure an image of a witch in your mind. Take your time, no need to rush.

Okay, you have the image? What did the witch in your mind’s eye look like? Did she have a wart on her nose?

Was she wearing a pointy black hat?

Perhaps riding a broom or standing over a cauldron?

If that’s what you imagined, you’re not alone. Ask most people to complete that exercise, and chances are that’s the preconceived, Hollywoodized image they’ll come up with.

Press a little further, ask whether they associate the witch they conjured with good or evil, and almost invariably they’ll say evil.

These are the stereotypes Ave Riddler-Tinton has to deal with whenever she tells someone she’s a witch — a follower of the Wicca religion and a practitioner of witchcraft.

“It can be very hard telling someone you’re a witch or Wiccan,” says Riddler-Tinton. “A lot of people don’t really understand what it’s about …

it’s not like TV. It’s not like Charmed or Practical Magic or anything. I don’t shoot sparks from my fingertips. I can’t change the colour of my hair. One of the most common things I get asked is if I cast a lot of spells. I don’t. That’s considered dark. When you do that, you enter the realm of harm.”

That’s a realm most modern witches and Wiccans tend to avoid — and for good reason.

Wicca, which is a pagan/witchcraft religion, was created in England in the first half of the 20th century, and introduced to the public in the 1950s by a civil servant named Gerald Gardner.

This new religion drew upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and hermetic motifs as well as nature-based spirituality.

These aspects formed its theological structure and ritual practices.

“It’s a very diverse religion,” explains Riddler-Tinton. “One of the biggest rules is that it’s okay to mix everything. There are Wiccans who believe in Jesus Christ and also believe in the [Divine] Goddess. You can believe in the old Celtic gods, the importance Continued on next page »

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of chakra systems, whatever. You can combine any kind of beliefs and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

There is, however, something wrong with casting spells or doing harm to others, mainly because Wiccans put a lot of stock in the ethical guideline called the Threefold Law. “We believe whatever you do comes back three times,” says RiddlerTinton. “It’s kind of like karma. It’s not going to come back in the exact same form. If you do a healing ritual, the effects of it are going to come back to you threefold. If you use a ritual for harm, it’ll come back three times as bad.

That’s why using witchcraft for evil, well, it’s not really worth it.”

So if witches, for the most part, aren’t evil, what other perceptions of them do we have that are wrong?

Well, in Early Modern Europe witchcraft and those who practiced it were deemed to be in league with the Devil, hellbent on undermining and/or destroying Christianity.

For some, that stereotype persists to this day. But when you think about it, it really doesn’t make much sense.

“Christianity believes in God and Satan,” says Riddler-Tinton. “But as a Wiccan, as a pagan, if I don’t believe

Photo: Courtesy of ave riddler-tinton

started reading about the way the priestesses in the book lived, I knew I found what I was looking for,” says Riddler-Tinton.

…if I don’t follow the Christian Bible, I can’t worship a Christian Satan…

Ave Riddler-Tinton

in the Christian God, if I don’t follow the Christian Bible, I can’t worship a Christian Satan, can I? It’s really as simple as that.”

What isn’t simple, however, is being a practicing Wiccan in presentday Saskatchewan.

How Ave Riddler-Tinton found Wicca is a bit of an unusual story.

A few years ago she became interested in religion, and started doing research into a bunch of them.

One of her friends knew she was searching for something and lent her a book called The Mists of Avalon — a novel about the Arthurian legend told from the perspective of its female characters. “Soon as I

From there she focused her energies on learning all about Wicca and witchcraft. The more she read, the more things made sense.

“For me, one of the biggest things was how it reconnected you with the elements and the seasons,” she says. “In Wicca, all things are sacred and part of the Divine.

A rock has just as much value as an animal. A tree just as much value as a human. The Divine is interwoven through everything.

It teaches you to respect and be aware of what you’re doing, to be aware of your environment.”

It was a belief system and ethos that made her heart happy. Soon she decided to share her newfound happiness with her family.

“My parents were ridiculously proud of me when I told them,” says Riddler-Tinton. “Even though I decided to follow a path that can be ill-perceived by society, they were happy for me. That makes me happy.”

Other people aren’t so lucky.

“Here in Saskatchewan there are very few private groups and a whole mass of solitary witches,” she says.

“And I know a lot of people who are practicing, but can’t tell their families or other people what their faith is.

Ever. People are too rigid, too set in their upbringing. When they try to tell these people that [Wicca] isn’t evil or bad, they don’t listen. It’s not up for discussion.”

When asked why she thinks this is, why a lot of witches in this province don’t display their faith openly to others, Riddler-Tinton pauses for a moment, then says, “A lot of it is because of fear. Some people don’t deal well with the negative connotations that are attached to Wicca and paganism.”

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Flight fail Flying in Canada is a hellish experience. Here’s how we can fix it

F

lying is not always a fun experience. Sure, if you’re going away on vacation it can be great (or at least bearable, knowing that something fun is waiting for you at the other end). But for the most part, flying is something to be endured. And in particular, flying at this time of year — with the unpredictable weather, endless delays, crowded planes and influx of people moving about the country — is rarely a fun experience. This most recent holiday season seems particularly bad, with every day bringing a new round of horror stories: bags lost, people stranded, flights cancelled — you know how it goes. Heck, at least four Verb staff members were stuck at airports for varying lengths of time trying to get home.

And while we understand that of course things happen that are outside of anyone’s control (we’re looking at you, polar vortex), the real kicker when you have a crappy flying experience is how much you have paid for it. Because let’s face it: getting around this great country of ours is rather expensive if you take to the skies.

Quite frankly, the problems with flying in Canada are vast, but we think the solution is rather straightforward: in order to make a better, more affordable consumer experience, we need to open our skies to competition.

So what’s wrong with how things are right now? Well, for starters, the lack of competition. Currently, Canadians can choose between our two major carriers: Air Canada or WestJet. And while WestJet used to be an inexpensive alternative to the much larger Air Canada, both airlines are dealing with changes and issues

that don’t work out in the consumer’s favour. Air Canada has been plagued with union woes, which has led to multiple strikes and the derailment of many a Canadian’s travel plans.

While WestJet has historically been considered the more customerfriendly option, less perks when flying ($6 for a sandwich, anyone?) has some passengers grumbling.

But what about the cost? Well, while Air Canada used to be considered the more expensive alternative, that difference is no more. The cheapest flight from Saskatoon to Vancouver on WestJet, all in, comes to a little under $600 return. Air Canada’s most affordable option over the same time period was roughly $20 more. Add to that unreliable arrival times — according to FlightStats, only 60% of Air Canada’s flights in 2012 were at the gate within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival times, which is pretty low for a major international airline. WestJet did slightly better, with 75% turning up on time (by comparison, industry leader Japan Airlines success rate was at 90%) — not to mention bonus surcharges for checking extra bags and more people crammed into a metal tube hurtling through the sky than ever before, and it’s a wonder anyone actually subjects themselves to the experience.

But what can we do to solve it?

Well, quite simply, we need to open our skies to foreign investments, and relax our current rules so that carriers from other countries can provide consumers with flights between Canadian cities, as they do in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

And we’re not just talking out our, uh, fuselage. Increased competition really does work. You see, right now Canada restricts foreign owner-

ship in the airline sector to 25%. By comparison, in Europe, Australia and New Zealand foreign carriers can own up to 49%. In fact, in 2008 a government panel suggested Canada follow a similar course of action, citing increased customer service and a reduction in ticket prices as a likely offshoot of the move.

And flyers in New Zealand and Australia have benefited from those perks listed above. For over 20 years, those two countries have allowed foreign companies to establish an air carrier within their borders, and the bonuses experienced by passengers is noteworthy. Thanks to the competition between six domestic airlines, flights were on time 80% of the time, and fares were reduced by 21% in the first year alone. Because of all this, the carriers saw an increase in the number of travellers taking to the skies, which meant more revenue for the airlines. Win-win.

So let’s stop taking Canadians to the cleaners with our current system, and make changes that benefit passengers and carriers alike. For many, flying is the only option to get from one end of this country to the other in a reasonable amount of time. Just think how great it would be if doing so was convenient, affordable, and efficient.

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 issue we asked what you thought about streamlining the CBC. Here's what you had to say:

you loved it so much you would have watched it in the first place.

Just my two cents.

– CBC needs to go the way of the dodo bird it is costing taxpayers so much money every year and is clearly a losing enterprise. I say scrap the whole thing do we need a national broadcast corporation any more I don’t think so

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r b 8372

– I was sorry to read that you think getting rid of CBC television is the way to save the corporation. Some things are worth having even if it doesn’t make dollars and sence. It’s important to encourage national creativity, and CBC has consistently supported and aired Canadian produced and created TV, radio programs, documentaries, news and more. We should not curtail that in anyway. But let it grow.

– I thought the Verb hated lefty s*** like CBC and I guess I was right.

“Saving” it by cutting of programming that provides thousands of Canadians with jobs is pretty heartless.

– Who even watches CBC tv anymore? The answer is no body.

But do people listen to the radio?

Besides Q? Maybe we should axe everything except the news that’s the only thing people watch anyways and it’s good to have a news source that isn’t controlled by the government.

– I think the real issue is how crappy Hockey Night in Canada will no longer support the Canadian broadcast company. That is a huge blow, and I doubt CBC can survive it. We need to do something but what.

– It would be utterly disgraceful if Canada lost it’s national broadcasting organization. I watch CBC news every night and it is thoughtful ,informative and without bias.

How many of us have grown up with the CBC in some way? We should be supporting it now more than ever.

– Hockey Night in Canada getting taken away was the death knell for CBC sad as that may be. That should never have happened, and the powers that be will have to live with the fact that they are solely responsible for killing CBC.

– I’m all for getting CBC tv because it’s totall crap shows I don’t even know anyone who watches them.

I guess we can watch news online people probably do that more now then ever.

OFF TOPIC – Re: Religion in civic arena. Why do we in Canada pray a Christian prayer? Because we are one nation under God. It is in GOD we trust.

Not allah, not money, and not religion. We are led by HIS Holy Spirit.

Jesus is Lord & Merry Christmas!

God/Jesus loves everybody. Even Ashu! :) Praise the Lord for a Free country that worships the wonderful loving creator of all. Hallelujah.

– ATTENTION PEOPLE: If your not taking Vitamin D..... Start!

– No more complaining about the weather! Complaining does not make it go away. Winter comes every year. Deal with it.

– Merry Christmas Baby If I held you I would never Let you G0 s

– Have a Buddy Holly Christmas it the best time of the year I don’t know just where we go as long as we got BEER! (repeat) listen to Good music keep you dancing New Year!!!

– Regarding Vaccines: Let’s try eating real food and herbs for medicine/prevention rather than poisoning people with sickness through needles. That’s not the way to health. Your body is made of spirit and dust. Not nano chemicals. So feed it properly with clean earth and it shall flourish. :)

– Environmental disters become a smoke screen surrounded by a hall of mirrors Billion $ corporations pay!!! A couple thousand in fines add to that the padded pocket!

Egual? CHANGE for a billion $ C0RPORATION

– PAY IT FORWARD! any time do 3 good things for 3 people they follow through 3 times another and another keep it going keep it goinq

In response to “Taboo Talk,” Local #270

– Contrary to popular belief most men have rich and deep emotions.

They know what they’re feeling and why. Know what to do about it. Not suppressed, acted on.

(December 13, 2013)

– If something is useful and relevant people will use it and it will thrive. The CBC even before losing HNIC was not doing that. It’s simply outgrown its use to Canadians, as sad as that may be, and we need to move on. There’s no good in not supporting something, and then when your lack of support leads to it getting shut down getting all whiny about it not being there. If

sound off – Could someone please educate me and tell if it’s possible for a canadian individual to get the guy that he didn’t vote for out of the pmo?

– That unusual feeling you get that you’ve met or knew someone before call it “Deja You”.

– WHAT THE FRACK? MY water is on fire Mercy Mercy Me there’s fish’s in my Mecrury

– If ashu solo wants to be an athiest, that is fine with me. But where

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does he have any right to tell me i am not allowed to be a christian?

Truth Is Power-Try It

– A lot of people use work to try to make greed and self interest seem noble. Its just work. Everybody does it. Nothing special. Neither are you!

– On some level greedy and jealous people know its wrong. Thats why they try so hard to hide it spin it as something else. Must be awful living with such feelings

– 2014 sux so far :(

– My new year’s resolution is not to make stupid f**king resolutions.

Just live your life honestly and with true intent and the rest will fall into place. No need to resolve to change

if you are acting with dignity and honesty in the first place :)

insane out there now. Cops called to Calgary to keep the peace!

– Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2014 - may this year bring you the joy and happyness you want. Be healthy, wealthy and wise!!

– Russia is looking like they don’t have it together to protect everyone who is going to the Olympics. I’d be nervous if I was heading there.

– At least it’s been sunny out, even though it’s freezing. So beautiful to look at :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Verb!

Next week: What do you think about opening up Canadian skies and airline industry to foreign carriers? Text in your thoughts to Verb to get in on the conversavtion:

– This year I will not put myself down or be a door mat for others s*#$. Your problems are your own I cant solve them for you anymore.

Your on your own and Im free.

– Glad I’m not stuck in an airport somewhere. Travel at this time of year is always crazy but it’s totally

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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Two Sides of Comments and Concerns

Photo: Courtesy of Alison Jeanette Photography

Saskatoon indie rock band releases ambitious double EP, The Alibi Project by Alex J Macpherson

C

omments and Concerns is responsible for one of the more unusual records to emerge from Saskatoon in recent memory. The Alibi Project is as long as a regular LP, but the band has chosen to present it as a pair of EPs. The first consists of songs written before a number of lineup changes, the second material written after Comments and Concerns was reduced to a trio. Even though both sides were recorded by the same musicians — Mitchell Epp, Justin Schmidt, and Brady Plett — the differences between them are profound. The first side consists of straightforward rock

the double EP was conceived to bridge the gap between the band’s past and present. But it also points to a bright future.

and roll songs driven by Epp’s acoustic guitar and containing a large number of references to wooly sweaters. (The opening track, “Sweater State of Mind,” conjures up the ghost of legendary Saskatoon band Volcanoless In Canada.) The second EP is more complex and evocative, closer to what lies at the heart of the band. “Cold Shiver Shake” is a grungy rock song propelled by a towering bass riff and punctuated by reverb-drenched guitar chords. “Renegade,” on the other hand, shakes up what would otherwise be a spacey indie rock song with a handful of off-kilter time changes. According to Plett,

Alex J MacPherson: The Alibi Project is billed as an EP, but there are actually two distinct sides of music.

Can you tell me a little bit about why you decided to go that way?

Brady Plett: Basically we’re releasing a double EP. We went through a lot of member changes back in the day, and when we switched all our members our style changed a lot. So when we

recorded our record, we kind of had the songs from our original lineup and the songs from our new lineup that we wanted to do. And they’re so different from each other.

We wanted them all, but they don’t belong on the same disc, because they don’t really go together.

AJM: Why did you record the first batch of songs, instead of simply cutting the new stuff and putting that out?

BP: A big thing in the band is being true to things that have happened in our past. That’s an essential part of where we are now, what we’ve done previously, and so we wanted

to make sure we didn’t just negate those and throw them away.

AJM: Can you describe a little bit how lineup changes have changed the sound on the EPs? BP: Originally, our frontman learned the songs on acoustic, brought them to us, and we just learned them. We had a lead guitar player at the time who decided to leave the band for personal reasons. Basically our frontman player started learning electric, picking up electric, and we started writing all together. So instead of him bringing us songs it became a group writing process where we would sit down and write entire songs all together.

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AJM: It strikes me that writing as a group also allows each part to emerge fully-formed.

BP: Totally. And we all find, too, that we enjoy writing together.

It gives us all a little more stock, a little more of an investment or meaning, in the song itself, and now we can play it and perform it more passionately.

AJM: Obviously playing as a trio gives each instrument more space.

Was that a big consideration when you were writing and recording the new material?

BP: I think it has, yeah. In the stuff we’re writing now all our parts are a little more complex. We like the space in the songs and being a trio allows us to achieve that space really easily, but at the same time we’re looking for a way to make it a little more complicated, a little more intricate. And a little more challenging for us to play as well.

AJM: You recorded both EPs at Avenue Recording in Saskatoon. What was that experience like?

BP: It was a really good experience, lots of fun, lots of laughs, and definitely learned a lot about ourselves as musicians — learned that we could have been a lot more prepared and it would have gone quicker. Part of it is that we didn’t really know exactly what we wanted to do with the songs. We kind of had our three pieces that we would play live all figured out, but we knew that there needed to be more to a song than just those three pieces. So when we were in the studio it was the actual production of the record, figuring out where we’re going to add this little part or change another vocal part, stuff like that. That was a little bit challenging for us.

AJM: In other words, figuring out not just how the pieces fit together, but which pieces to use?

BP: Exactly. Especially when you’re in the moment, you’re like, we could change anything we want about this right now. Whatever we

decided to do, no one else is going to know the other way. In some ways there’s a bit of pressure on you: one guy likes it one way, one guy likes it this other way, which way do you do it?

AJM: You chose “Cold Shiver Shake,” which is a pretty basic bluesy rock song, as the first song to release. Why? BP: We knew we wanted to release one from Part 2, so that narrowed it down to those four or five songs.

And we wanted it to be upbeat, or more upbeat, so it would catch people’s attention and hold people’s attention right away. And we wanted it also to bridge between the two records. “Cold Shiver Shake” was our best option for that, we felt, because it does have a simple, straight-time kind of vibe, like the stuff you might get from the Part 1 record.

AJM: You have a few musical guests on the record. Who played the violin on “Damian” on the first EP? BP: That’s our good friend Sam Milner. He was involved in the writing of the lyrics and the composing of the whole song. It was really cool for him to come into the studio, basically hear the song he’d helped give the initial idea to be a full song, and then lay down the violin part over top. He also played on “Sweater State of Mind” as well.

AJM: EPs often pave the way for fulllength albums. What’s on the horizon for you?

BP: If the demand is there, and if we’re still writing music together and passionate about it, then I guess we’ll record another record after that.

Comments and Concerns January 18 @ Amigos $10 at the door

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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Pink Floyd, Redux

Photos: courtesy of Jeans ‘n Classics/Darren McChristie

The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon as you’ve never heard them before by Alex J MacPherson

I

n the years following the publication of Catch-22, Joseph Heller was often asked why he hadn’t written anything else as good. When this question came up, a grin would cross his face and he would reply, ‘Who has?’ It can be argued that the same thing happened to Pink Floyd in 1973. Dark Side Of The Moon is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, a sprawling symphony of sound that is at once tightly-focused and consciousnessexpanding. “Pink Floyd weren’t larger than life; they were just one of the gang of bands that came out of late sixties and early seventies Britain,” says Peter Brennan, a founding member of Jeans ‘n Classics, which infuses classic rock songs with the expansive sound of a symphony orchestra. “But Dark Side Of The Moon just put them on a plateau that no one’s gotten near, including themselves. The Wall gets much, much more press, perhaps.

But I think they had their magic on Dark Side.”

Brennan has been absorbing rock music for most of his life. After years spent playing in various bands, he helped form Jeans ‘n Classics in the early 1990s. For the last two decades he and his bandmates have transformed classic songs by Michael Jackson, the Police, the Beatles, and countless other iconic acts into sprawling orchestral epics. Later this month, Jeans ‘n Classics will perform songs from The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon alongside the Saskatoon

Symphony Orchestra. The first half of the show will include songs from Pink Floyd’s 1979 double album, including “Run Like Hell” and “Comfortably Numb.” The second half will be a complete performance of Dark Side Of The Moon, which is as potent today as it was when it was released.

“With Pink Floyd it takes on shapes that certainly we weren’t expecting prior to going into it,” Brennan says of the long and involved process of fitting an orchestra into the framework of a rock song. “The irony is that Pink Floyd [worked] in the very early days of synthetic treatments and textures. The wonderful twist on that is you take it back to what synthesizers were trying to emulate — symphonic sounds and symphonic textures. So to give it back to an orchestral setting is really a neat twist on the original idea.”

But this is not an easy thing to do.

Jeans ‘n Classics have bridged the gap between popular music and classical not by using one to colour the other, but by melding two dramatically different ideas together. Because Pink Floyd made liberal use of long, drawn-out organ and synthesizer lines, it would be tempting to have the orchestra mimic these lines, replacing one atmospheric counterpoint with another. But Brennan isn’t interested in doing that. “We want the orchestra to be engaged with us and to enjoy this,” he says. “One of the challenges was to keep that textural sound, but within it keep them moving. So the audience will hear a great deal of string move-

ment and woodwind movement, and then the brass climbing and dissipating, climbing and dissipating. It’s more of a rolling texture as opposed to just sitting there with lengthy whole note organ chords going on.”

By contrasting familiar elements of Pink Floyd’s music with entirely new textural backdrops, Brennan and his bandmates can provide audiences familiar with the band an experience that expands on, rather than merely replicates, some of the strongest songs ever recorded. Their performances also demonstrate the enduring legacy of records like The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon. “I suspect that while it felt great when they did their final mixes and when the vinyl went to be shipped, they probably didn’t realize what they’d created,” Brennan says, adding that the aesthetic appeal of Pink Floyd’s masterpieces has always been relevant. “It just happened, kind of like Sgt. Pepper’s. A magical thing they were able to come up with. And all these years later it’s an absolute privilege to be able to perform it. To have the orchestra and to have this material to work with, we’re just the vessels — and we get to throw it at the audience and it gets to hit there.”

The Music of Pink Floyd January 18 @ TCU Place $35+ @ TCU Box Office, tcutickets.ca Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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Here On Future Earth Joi Arcand’s ambitious photo installation imagines a society in which Cree is the dominant language by Alex J MacPherson

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anguage is indivisible from culture and identity. It informs every action and interaction with the outside world, and it is impossible to conceive of a reality in which language does not play a role. But not all languages exist on equal terms.

The history of colonialism in Canada is also the history of linguistic marginalization, the displacement of indigenous languages by English and French. To draw attention to the plight of these languages, many of which are facing extinction, Joi Arcand’s otē nīkān misiwē askīhk – Here On Future Earth (Amber Motors) imagines a reality in which Cree is Canada’s first language — a reality that is both familiar and totally foreign to most Anglophones.

“It occurred to me that as a Cree woman, as an indigenous person in the city, we don’t see our language portrayed in public,” says Arcand, who grew up on Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and works as a graphic designer when she isn’t making photographs and multidisciplinary installations. “You have to really search for it if you want to find it. Learning my language is important to me. But I’m not a fluent speaker, I grew up speaking English, so I wanted to merge those ideas of language revitalization into my art practice, using photography and a bit of graphic design and typography to recreate English signage into Cree syllabics.”

Here On Future Earth is a series of twelve images that juxtapose familiar landscapes and unfamiliar texts.

Between 2009 and 2010, Arcand took a number of photographs of advertising, mostly signs on businesses in Saskatoon and other Saskatchewan communities. Then she replaced English words with Cree syllabics, leaving the rest of the photograph untouched.

The resulting images use advertising — always an uncomfortably accurate reflection of society and culture — to present a very different history of colonialism and the world today.

“I think art is the perfect way to start conversations, and to start thinking about things differently,” Arcand says. “Colonialism is ongoing. It didn’t end a couple hundred years ago or last week. It’s still happening, and these conversations need to continue to happen.” The conversation about languages and society begins with a reminder that language is porous. Just because Cree syllabics are foreign to many people does not mean the language is hidden. The Saskatchewan vernacular is loaded with Cree words, including Saskatoon and Meewasin. But those words have been stripped of meaning; they just signify places where English is the dominant tongue.

The connections between place and language present in Here On Future Earth are heightened by the physical location of the work itself. Because Arcand’s image of Amber Motors has been blown up and pasted on a billboard overlooking 20th Street, the work addresses changes to the neighborhood where

she made the original photograph.

Since Arcand shot the image nearly four years ago, the social and cultural landscape of Riversdale has changed dramatically. The Barry Hotel is long gone, and pawn shops have been edged out by trendy office buildings and upscale cafés. These edifices of modernity are also reminders of a present with little use for the Cree language. Which is why Here On Future Earth is so powerful.

By disrupting what people expect to see on signs and in advertisements, Arcand is able to draw attention not only to the plight facing Cree and other indigenous languages, but also a reality in which language is taken for granted and its ascent regarded as little more as a historical inevitability. Here On Future Earth pulls colonialism from the past into the present. “It is sort of an alternative universe,” Arcand says. “It’s sort of timeless. Obviously, it’s not this reality. But it could be a future.

Or it could imagine a weird past where colonialism happened, but our languages survived and were the prominent languages everyone else had to learn. It’s playing with those ideas, too.”

Here on Future Earth Through February 2014 @ Aka Gallery Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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No More Pennies Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Dave Gunning on his latest album and pitched battle with the government by Alex J MacPherson

D

ave Gunning just wanted to release a record and go on tour.

But when his 2012 album No More Pennies drew the ire of the Royal Canadian Mint, the Nova Scotia singer-songwriter found himself in an unenviable position. Instead of celebrating the release and playing his folk songs for audiences across Canada, Gunning was fighting a rearguard action against one of the most powerful institutions in the country. “They came after me for royalties,” Gunning says of his tenth studio album, which he named for the now-defunct Canadian penny. “I used the image of the penny and the first thing they wanted me to do was change the artwork. We did change the artwork on the second pressing, but they still wanted me to pay, I think, sixty cents per CD. I told them that I could have recorded ‘The Canadian Railroad Trilogy’ for eight cents; I thought it was some sort of weird tax.”

Lawsuits between governments represented by flocks of dark-suited lawyers and financially restricted singer-songwriters can have only

one outcome. Faced with the very real prospect of being litigated out of existence, Gunning decided to pay up — in pennies. “People started coming to shows with pennies,” he says with a laugh, explaining that his small act of rebellion captured the attention of newspapers and cable television shows across North America. “I had hundreds of pounds of pennies in my barn. We ended up raising sixty-four hundred bucks or something like that.

It was a lot of pennies.” Support for Gunning ballooned with each new report. Apparently unwilling to contend with a public relations disaster, the Mint backed off. Gunning, his nightmarish experience over, donated the money to a Halifax hospital and went on tour.

Although Dave Gunning’s name will forever be linked to his battle with the Mint, his career as a singersongwriter should not be discounted.

Since he released his debut album in 1996, he has written and recorded dozens of poignant, pointed folk songs.

His records relate experiences that are fundamentally Canadian; his songs capture the essence of what it means to live north of the 49th parallel, contrasting lonely expanses of geography with

the warmth of human contact. But Gunning’s career in folk music was never really a question. In 1981, when he was just eight years old, he saw a double bill featuring Stan Rogers and John Allan Cameron, two of the most

I played in rock band warm and fuzzy when acoustic guitar. dave gunning

iconic songwriters this country has ever produced. “I was eight years old, very impressionable,” he says. “But it definitely was a life-changer, that’s for sure. As I grow older, I always think back to that concert.” Gunning learned how to play guitar while attending junior high in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Like so many other teenagers he learned how to play a few chords and string a song together. But while his contemporaries were drawn to rock and roll, Gunning concentrated on learning folk songs. He attributes his Continued on next page »

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Photo: courtesy of Naomi Campbell

lifelong love of traditional folk music to his parents, who played records by Gordon Lightfoot and Peter, Paul and Mary. Gunning supplemented this diet of folk with albums by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, as well as Stompin’ Tom Connors. “I played in rock bands, but I felt warm and fuzzy when I heard acoustic guitar,” he says. “I guess Lightfoot and some of that old stuff really resonated with me. I liked the

punchy baritone influenced a generation of folk songwriters. The following year Gunning put out a Christmas album, Christmas Too, that infused traditional carols with the sound of his solo records — quietly ambitious guitar licks and that distinctive tenor, simple yet effective. No More Pennies marks the first collection of original songs Gunning has released since 2009’s We’re All Leaving.

ds, but I felt n I heard

Photo: courtesy of Naomi Campbell

storytelling through songs. Stompin’ Tom [Connors] obviously was our most loyal Canadian. I mean, every single one of his songs was a story, whether true or crazy or whatever.”

No More Pennies marked a return to basics for Gunning, who spent the several years preceding its release recordings songs written by other people. In 2010 he released a tribute to John Allan Cameron, a collection of songs by the legendary performer whose immediately recognizable twelve-string guitar playing and

“I was sitting on quite a few songs and it was time to do one for sure,” he says. “There were maybe half a dozen songs I knew for sure I wanted to put on the CD, and once I chose those I had to try to pick other ones that would fit or contrast in an interesting way.

Whether or not we hit close to the mark, that’s so subjective.” The songs on No More Pennies are extremely diverse, which Gunning attributes to his fondness for writing with other people. (No More Pennies includes songs written with George Canyon,

David Francey, and Bruce Guthro). For Gunning, who frequently tours alone, co-writing offers a respite from the lonely life of a singer-songwriter. More importantly, he says, the combination of instant feedback and creative tension makes the songs better. But while No More Pennies is one of the most diverse records he has ever made, the songs can be divided into two distinct groups. Some are simple story songs constructed around an acoustic guitar lick. Most of these are destined for the stage. Others feature more elaborate instrumentation and arrangements.

These “album songs” are not written to be played live, but to push the boundaries of what their creator can do.

This is apparent on songs like “Little White Seeds” and “Too Soon To Turn Back,” both of which depart from the standard folk music palette. The former is a dramatic duet with Scottish songwriter Karine Polwart that builds from a gentle guitar lick into a towering crescendo of guitars, accordions, tin whistles, and James Keddy’s throaty uilleann pipes. The latter ventures into the realm of pop music, casting quiet verses against a sweeping chorus. But the most unusual song on the record is undoubtedly “That’s When We Fell,” which Gunning wrote after watching a friend’s long-distance relationship implode. “My good friend Jamie Robinson, who actually helped produce the record, had been seeing a girl from Germany,” he says. “Their only enemy in life was circumstance. She wasn’t going to quit her job there and he wasn’t going to go there, either. It just fell apart. He was really, really having a hard time, and it wasn’t something he was really wanting to talk about — and he certainly wouldn’t write about it. So I started writing about it.”

“That’s When We Fell” is unusual because it is deeply personal. Gunning concedes that parts of himself emerge in most of his songs, but that the line between the personal and the universal is not always clear. Most of the songs on No More Pennies tell stories that anyone can connect to. “Coal From The Train” relates an old family story in which railway employees surreptitiously shoveled coal off of passing trains, a gesture of charity toward people living in poverty near the tracks. “A Game Goin’ On” is an ode to pond hockey, a charming song that conjures up images of kids clad

in clunky winter boots and oversized Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys. The last song on the record, “Living In Alberta,” summons the ghost of Stan Rogers’s classic “The Idiot” with its portrait of a man trapped by circumstance and desperate to return home to the east coast.

“It’s funny because when I look back at this record there are a lot of songs that are about Canadian things,” Gunning says. “I don’t really know where the songs come from. You sort of just sit down, and then maybe get an idea. When you write a song you just feel happy. You think, maybe I can write another one someday. But when I put the list together I realized there was sort of a Canadiana thing happening, in a nostalgic way.” This is a good thing. The songs on No More Pennies are nostalgic in the best possible way.

Instead of attempting to recreate the sound and feel of the folk music he grew up listening to, Gunning set out to

capture fundamental experiences and relate them in universal. The album is bound together not by a particular sound, but by Gunning’s ability to examine in great detail individual threads woven into the fabric of this country. Which is why he decided to call the record No More Pennies. “I just thought I’d pay tribute to the Canadian penny, salute it as it’s on its way out,” he says of the little copper coin. “It seemed to make sense when I looked at what some of the songs were about.

Didn’t know I’d get in trouble with the Royal Canadian Mint, though.”

Dave Gunning January 23 @ The Bassment $17/23 @ The Bassment, showclix.com Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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A little bit of everything, a whole lot of good Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt

The Wok Asian Restaurant: doing Asian cuisine right by adam hawboldt

T

here are no lack of what my friend calls “a-little-bit-of-everything” Asian restaurants in this city. You know the ones. They serve a little bit of Vietnamese food, a little bit of Thai, a little bit of Chinese. Pho, vermicelli noodle bowls, and chow mein are always on the menu.

Well, let’s start with the atmosphere. With its deep red walls, flower paintings and pair of ornate dragons hung at the far end of the restaurant, The Wok Asian Restaurant is fancy without being fancy.

Going there is soothing and calming, even though the place is rarely quiet.

The service is excellent, too. The staff at The Wok Asian Restaurant is friendly and talkative, and they always bring you your piping hot food quickly.

Then there’s the actual grub.

Usually when I order from there I get the #26 — beef and two spring rolls on vermicelli. It’s as good a noodle bowl as you’ll get anywhere in the city. But the other day when I was at The Wok Asian Restaurant, I decided to change things up. Decided to see what else they had to offer.

For a starter I ordered a small Thai Noodle Soup, the term “small” being a complete misnomer. The bowl was enormous, a meal in and of itself.

And what a meal it was! Consisting of noodles (naturally), onions,

It seems like every neighbourhood in Saskatoon has one of these restaurants. The main areas of the city are littered with them.

The one in my neck of the woods is called The Wok Asian Restaurant.

And maybe I’m a bit biased here, but pound-for-pound it’s one of the best in the city.

What makes it so good?

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide Irene’s Irish Coffee

Ingredients

The brutal winter months are upon us, so if you have a hankering for something that’ll keep you warm this January (and feel like getting a bit tipsy to boot), give this tried and tested old drink a shot. It’ll warm you up and wake you up, all at the same time.

2 ounces Irish whiskey 5 to 6 ounces coffee 2 teaspoons sugar heavy cream

Directions

Pour the whiskey, coffee and sugar into a mug. Stir. Top it off with a thick layer of lightly whipped heavy cream and serve.

chicken, shrimp, beef, broth and green onions, the Thai Noodle Soup was savoury and spicy and flat-out delicious. It came with sprouts, cilantro, peppers and lemon that you can add if you want.

The soup was so good, I almost didn’t want to add anything. But eventually I gave in, and added a touch of cilantro, a squirt of lemon, some homemade hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce. The result? Something so good that it’s hard to describe in words.

After the noodle soup I had a heaping mound of pad thai (also tasty) and one of their special hot pots. Served sizzling at the table, this gluten-free option featured everything from shrimp to baby carrots to

cauliflower and bok choy. Topped with a light sauce, the veggies were cooked to perfection (not too soggy, not too undercooked), and the meat was moist and scrumptious.

Needless to say, I’ll be eating at The Wok Asian Restaurant again.

Probably later this week. And who knows: next time around I may order something other than the usual.

The Wok Asian Restaurant 3311 8th Street East | (306) 933 1818 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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music

Next Week

coming up

J Cole

Magneta Lane

Kings of Leon

@ O’Brians Event Centre Saturday January 18 – $45+

@ Vangelis Wednesday, January 22 – $TBD

@ Credit Union Centre Friday, April 4 – $39+

Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known by the moniker J. Cole, is a hip hop artist and producer hailing from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

He kicked things off early, and by the age of 12 he had started rapping.

His first mixtape, The Come Up, was released in 2007 with a lukewarm response. However, 09’s The Warm Up garnered positive reviews, and landed Cole on Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3 album. Cole’s star was rising, and people were starting to take notice.

In 2010 he appeared on Beyond Race Magazine’s list of 50 Great Breakthrough Artists. He’s collaborated with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Trey Songz, and he isn’t slowing down. Catch him when he hits up O’Brians later this month; tickets at obrianseventcentre.ca

Magneta Lane is definitely a force to be reckoned with. The three-piece group from Toronto offers up a tasty dish of garage rock, punk pop and witch rock that will blow your hair back. Featuring the hot talents of Lexi (guitar, vocal), French (bass) and Nadia (drums), this all-woman power group kills it in, as they say, the most unladylike fashion. Reminiscent of badass trailblazers such as Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry, Magneta Lane faced their own rounds of trial and tribulations before settling into a new phase of their career, heralded by their latest record Witchrock. These dynamic musicians will be rocking Vangelis’ stage next week; tickets available at the door.

This Nashville, Tennessee rock band has blown away everyone’s expectations of what they could achieve. After releasing two noteworthy records — 2003’s Youth & Young Manhood and 2004’s Aha Shake Heartbreak — that received more interest across the pond than here in North America, the fourpiece dropped their game changer on the public in 2007. Because of the Times is a sprawling, hard rocking album that polarized critics while also leading to the Followills’ significant success worldwide. The group — Claeb, Matthew, Jared and Nathan — weren’t done there, and a handful of records along with a slew of singles netted them some Grammys. The Kings of Leon are currently on tour and will be hitting up CUC on April 4. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.

– By Adam Hawboldt

Photos courtesy of: Cole_Zeke_Wiki/ robert ciolfi/ the artist

Sask music Preview Attention artists! Now is the time of year when music festivals and associations start booking their spring and summer events, so check the following deadlines to keep up to date. MosoFest call for submissions Feb. 14; Folk on the Rocks Jan 15; Vancouver Folk Music Festival Jan 15; The Banff Centre’s Summer Music Programs Jan 22; Heritage Language Day Saskatchewan Celebrations Jan 20; Cathedral Arts Festival Jan 31; Ness Creek Music Festival Jan 31; North American Indigenous GAmes Feb 28; Regina Folk Festival Feb 28; and Calgary Reggaefest Feb 28.

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

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january 10 » january 18 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

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Friday 10

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover BC Reed / Amigos Cantina — Roots and blues done right. 10pm / Cover TBD Neil Currie / The Bassment — It’s piano Fridays! 4:30pm / No cover Kacy and Clayton / The Bassment — Also playing: Mitch Grier. 9pm / $17/$23 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s UltraLounge — DJ Aash Money throws down a highenergy top 40 dance party every Friday night. 9pm / $5 cover Stuck in the 80s / Buds on Broadway — A night of 80s tunes. 10pm / 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 to get your weekend started. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax Niteclub — Kick off your weekend with all your favourite party hits, courtesy of DJ Stikman. 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. Come out and party every Friday! 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm Ian Martens / Prairie Ink — Acoustic/ folk rock. 8pm / No cover Out of the Blue / Stan’s Place — A night of rocking, rollicking good tunes.

9:30pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests,from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila — Come tear it up on the dance floor. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD Greg Rekus / Vangelis — Also featuring Myles and the Blanks and Taylor from Little Criminals. 10pm / $8

Saturday 11

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes all night.

9pm / No cover Switch Ungala / Amigos Cantina — Featuring East of Eden, Fire Lily + more.

10pm / Cover TBD The Martin Janovsky Orchestra / The Bassment — Playing blues, jazz and rock. 9pm / $17/$23 DJ Aash Money + DJ Sugar Daddy / Béily’s UltraLounge — These two DJs throw down a dance party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover Stuck in the 80s / Buds on Broadway — A night of 80s tunes. 10pm / Cover TBD Rory Allen / Dakota Dunes — A tribute to The King. 6:30pm / SOLD OUT SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes every Saturday. 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 DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music all night. 8pm / $4 cover DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up

your friends ‘cause there’s no better party around for lovers of country rock.

8pm / $5 Whiskey on Sunday / Prairie Ink — A folk/pop/country trio. 8pm / No cover Out of the Blue / Stan’s Place — A night of rocking, rollicking good tunes.

9:30pm / 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 Saturday Night Social / Tequila Nightclub — Electronic Saturdays will have you moving and grooving. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD

Sunday 12

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 DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover

Stan’s Place Jam / Stan’s Place — Bring your instrument, all music types welcome. 8:30pm / No cover Blues Jam / Vangelis Tavern — The Vangelis Sunday Jam is an institution, offering great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. It’s a great way to spend your Sunday. 7:30pm / No cover

Monday 13

DJ Audio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD Ukrainian New Years Party / Stan’s Place — Featuring the Ukrainian Cowboys. 9:30pm / $30 (includes supper)

Tuesday 14

The Blue Mules / Buds on Broadway — Doing the blues right, come on down and see what these guys are all about.

10pm / Cover TBD 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. Tuesdays at the Deuce are always busy, so come down and have some fun! 9:30pm / $4 cover DJ Nick Ruston / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD Verb presents Open Mic / Rock Bottom — Come and rock the stage! 9pm / No cover Open Mic / The Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover DJ Carlos / Stan’s Place — Playing your favourite songs to lighten the work week. 9:30pm / No cover

Wednesday 15

DJ Modus / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Spinning all your favourite tracks. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter The Luyas / Amigos Cantina — Indie rockers from Montreal. 10pm / $10 (www.ticketedge.ca) DJ Aash Money / Béily’s UltraLounge — Spinning dope beats all night. 9pm / Cover TBD Apollo Cruz / Buds on Broadway — High-octane power blues. 10pm / Cover TBD Pink / Credit Union Centre — A world famous singer/songwriter with some serious chops will be bringing her talents to Saskatchewan. This promises to be one helluva show! 7:30pm / $37.25+ (ticketmaster.ca) DJ Memo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD Continued on next page »

20 jan 10 – Jan 16 entertainment

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DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Buck Wild Wednesdays / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Come out and ride the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff Josh Palmer / Rock Creek (Willowgrove) — Alternative rock and pop from right here in town. Josh Palmer always provides a great live show. 8pm / No cover DJ Carlos / Stan’s Place — Playing your favorite songs to lighten the work week, DJ Carlos will have you moving and grooving. 9:30pm / 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

Thursday 16

Catherine MacLellan / The Bassment — An award-wining singer/songwriter from PEI. 8pm / $17/$23 Apollo Cruz / Buds on Broadway — High-octane power blues. 10pm / Cover TBD 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 DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music all night. 8pm / $4 cover DJ Carlos / Stan’s Place — Playing your favorite songs to lighten the work week. 9:30pm / No cover Triple Up Thursdays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Dislexic. 9pm / Cover TBD Open Stage / The Woods — Hosted by Steven Maier. 9pm / No cover

Friday 17 House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover Wool on Wolves, Shred Kelly / Amigos Cantina — A night of folk and rock.

10pm / Cover TBD Brett Balon / The Bassment — It’s piano Friday! 4:30pm / No cover Too Darn Hot / The Bassment — Sultry, risque songs from the 20s and 30s.

9pm / $15/$20 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s UltraLounge — DJ Aash Money throws down a highenergy top 40 dance party every Friday night. 9pm / $5 cover Johnny Don’t / Buds on Broadway — A local rock/pop outfit. 10pm / 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 Jatino / Prairie Ink — Smooth jazz/ latin/pop music. 8pm / No cover Evening Shift / Stan’s Place — A rockin’, feet-tapping good time at Stan’s.

9:30pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests,from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila — Come tear it up on the dance floor. 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD Sound and Silence Collective / Vangelis — Featuring The Faps, Caves and more. 7pm / $10

Saturday 18

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes all night.

9pm / No cover Comments and Concerns / Amigos Cantina — Also featuring Family Affair, Niklas Winnitowy and Chloe Berge.

10pm / Cover TBD The Doug Boomhower Trio / The Bassment — Smooth jazz licks for a cold Saturday night. 9pm / $15/$20 DJ Aash Money + DJ Sugar Daddy / Béily’s UltraLounge — These two DJs throw down a dance party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover Seven Strait / Buds on Broadway — A night of rockin’ tunes. 10pm / Cover TBD SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes every Saturday. 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 DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music all night. 8pm / $4 cover J. Cole / O’Brians Event Centre — An up-and-coming American rapper. 8pm / $45+ (tickets.obrianseventcentre.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 No Hurry Trio / Prairie Ink — Easy listening and classic rock. 8pm / No cover

Fuse Collective / Spadina Freehouse — Spinning music that’ll make you move and groove all night long. 9pm / No cover Evening Shift / Stan’s Place — A rockin’, feet-tapping good time at Stan’s.

9:30pm / 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 Conexus Pops Series: The Music of Pink Floyd / TCU Place — Music from The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon — it’s Pink Floyd like you’ve never heard them before. 7:30pm / $35+

Saturday Night Social / Tequila — Electronic Saturdays will have you moving and grooving. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD Sound and Silence Collective / Vangelis — Featuring Pandas in Japan, Little Criminals and more. 7pm / $10

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

21 jan 10 – Jan 16 @verbsaskatoon

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An unspoiled spoiler

Photo: Courtesy of universal pictures

Lone Survivor title may give away the ending, but the film takes you for one heckuva ride by adam hawboldt

A

s a rule, it’s probably not a good idea to give your movie a title (and an accompanying poster) that spoils the ending.

Think about it. You don’t have to watch Free Willy to know what’s going to happen. Same goes for Jack and the Giant Slayer, John Dies at the End, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Giving your film a dead-giveaway title can spoil it for viewers, and suck the tension straight out of the movie. More often than not, this is the case. But the rule isn’t hard and fast. Every now and then you get a gem of a movie that, even though you know what’s going to happen before you enter the theatre, blows your hair back.

Think The Shawshank Redemption or Saving Private Ryan.

Well, now you can add Lone Survivor to that list.

Directed by Peter Berg, this film, based on the true story of a 2005

Navy SEAL mission gone awry, grabs you by the collar and keeps twisting and twisting until it’s hard to breathe.

And I mean that it a good way.

Lone Survivor is a gut-punch of a movie that is so tense it will keep you on the edge of your seat — even though, because of the title and mov-

lone survivor Peter Berg Starring Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster + Taylor Kitsch Directed by

121 minutes | 14A

There’s Mike Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), a special-ops team leader and a real taciturn badass. There’s Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Ben Foster), the communications specialist. There’s Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch), the gunner’s mate. And then there’s Marcus Luttrell (Wahlberg), the team’s medic.

And right from the get-go you are pulled into the Navy SEAL mindset.

You see their hellish training. You understand the camaraderie, the tie that binds them all together.

Eventually the movie shifts gears and the SEAL team is sent to the mountains of Afghanistan. Their objective: eliminate a high-ranking Taliban leader.

This is no easy task, an assignment made even more difficult

Lone Survivor is … a movie that is so tense it will keep you on the edge of your seat…

Adam Hawboldt

ie poster, you know that there will be only one survivor of the mission.

The story begins with an introduction to the Navy SEAL team.

because neither their radio equipment nor satellite phones are working properly.

Things go from bad to worse when the team is spotted by some goat herders, whom they take prisoner. When that happens, they have a decision to make. A serious decision.

A life-or-death decision. Do they follow the rules of engagement and let the unarmed prisoners go, or do they kill them because they suspect they are Taliban spies?

After a riveting sequence in which the SEALs soul-search and second-guess themselves, they release the goat herders.

Bad idea. A few hours later, the Taliban rains all holy hell down on

their heads. The action during this stretch, which lasts for most of the second half of the film, is visceral, graphic, aggressive, uber-violent and non-stop.

And as the title suggests, only one man survives. But just because you know that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch Lone Survivor. It’s simply one heckuva war movie.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

22 jan 10 – Jan 16 entertainment

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A breath of fresh air

Spike Jonze’s Her one of the best of the year by adam hawboldt

Photo: Courtesy of warner bros. pictures

her Spike Jonze Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams + Rooney Mara Directed by

120 minutes | 14A

E

very now and then a movie comes along and restores your faith in Hollywood. Spike Jonze’s Her is one of those movies.

In a day and age where every romantic movie or romantic comedy seems to be a carbon-copy/cookiecutter version of something or other, Her stands out as a fresh, wildly inventive, tender, beautiful, brilliant film like nothing you’ve ever seen.

That’s a bold statement. But true.

Set in just-around-the-corner future Los Angeles, the film tells the story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix).

Ol’ Theodore has seen better days.

Once upon a time ago he was an LA Weekly writer married to a beautiful woman named Catherine (Rooney Mara.) Those days are gone now.

Instead of writing for LA Weekly, Theodore works for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, writing heartfelt letters for others. Instead of still being married to Catherine, he’s divorced, lonely, and living under a cloud of gloom that he can’t get away from, no matter how much phone sex he has or how many video games he plays.

Then he meets Samantha.

And by “meets” I totally mean “buys.” See, Samantha is an OS1 — the first artificially intelligent operating system. To abate his loneliness, Theodore purchases and installs Samantha on his computer. The moment he hears her throaty voice (done

by Scarlett Johansson), things start to change for Theodore.

What unfolds is a love story unlike anything Hollywood has ever produced. It’s toucZ 1 ving, tender and unorthodox.

Samantha’s voice is the first thing Theodore hears when he wakes up in the morning, and the last thing he hears before he goes to bed. But their relationship isn’t confined to his house.

No, in the near future that Jonze has created, the real world and the digital world have become seamlessly linked.

Samantha is always with Theodore, in his handheld device. He puts the handheld in his pocket so that the device’s camera (and through it, Samantha) can see everything Theodore sees. Go everywhere Theodore goes.

Over time, their relationship deepens. Samantha grows and learns and evolves at a rapid pace. Pretty soon Theodore is introducing her as his girlfriend and, well, naturally that complicates things.

This is one of those movies that’s too good to spoil with even the subtlest of hints. But know this: Her is a one-of-akind movie.

In terms of visual aesthetic, the movie is subdued and gorgeous. Jonze shows Los Angeles in mainly neutral tones of blue and grey, with splashes of red here and there.

In terms of script and story, the screenplay (which Jonze wrote) is lyrical and smart and raises questions about the very essence of love.

In terms of acting, everyone kills it. Amy Adams (who plays

Theodore’s friend Amy), Johansson (who slays without ever appearing on screen) and Roony Mara never disappoint. But the real applause here should be reserved for Joaquin Phoenix, who gives a nuanced, gentle, sensitive and utterly brilliant performance as Theodore.

In truth, I could go on and on about how good this movie is.

But why bother? Words sometimes

do little justice. So do yourself a favour and go see Her. You’ll be glad you did.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

23 jan 10 – Jan 16 /verbsaskatoon

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Tuesday, December 31 @

Long branch

The Long Branch 806 Idylwyld Drive North (306) 665 6500

Continued on next page Âť

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Check out our Facebook page!

These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, January 17. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Patrick Carley

25 jan 10 – Jan 16 @verbsaskatoon

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Photography by Patrick Carley

26 jan 10 – Jan 16 entertainment

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tuesday, january 7 @

Rook & Raven

The Rook & Raven 154 2nd Avenue South (306) 665 2220

Check out our Facebook page!

These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, January 17. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by opalsnaps.com

27 jan 10 – Jan 16 /verbsaskatoon

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Continued on next page Âť

28 jan 10 – Jan 16 entertainment

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Photography by opalsnaps.com

29 jan 10 – Jan 16 @verbsaskatoon

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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 29. French bread 32. Raring to go 36. Divisions of geological time 37. Supply with weapons 39. Exercises done to per fect the body and mind 40. Small amount 41. Wood nymph 43. Vase with a pedestal 44. Deficiency of red blood cells 46. Hanging in tufts 48. Hair net 49. Condiment container 50. Ripped 51. They lay eggs

A

1. Peaceful 2. Lyric poem 3. Sign of Pisces 4. Starchy tuber 5. Wickerwork boat 6. Unguarded 7. Matter, in law 8. Earlier criminal convictions 9. Film 11. Computer acronym 12. Hat material 14. Soft mineral 17. Ridicule 20. Shared fundamental traits 22. Analyze ore

24. Sot’s utterance 26. Scot’s assent 28. Faked situation 29. Second Greek letter 30. Chestnut horses 31. Start a new paragraph 33. Uses a chisel 34. White wading bird B 35. Strip of leather in a shoe 38. Walk, as soldiers on parade 41. French fashion designer 42. Be brave enough 45. Bovine utterance 47. Weapon that shoots bullets

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

1. Nice to touch 5. Business abbreviation 9. Television, newspapers, and radio collectively 10. Musical drama 12. Large area with many trees 13. Keep from giving in 15. Night before 16. Mr. Macho 18. Wood sorrel 19. Row of words 21. Bird in Arabian mythology 22. Seed covering 23. Some have false ones 25. Always fashionable 27. Love bites

© walter D. Feener 2014

sudoku answer key

DOWN

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

ACROSS

Horoscopes January 10 – january 16 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

You may be feeling especially adventurous this week, Aries. If so, get out there, shake things up, and make things happen.

It could be a little tough to focus for the next few days, Leo. Do your best to stay on target, even though it might be easy to let yourself get distracted.

If you aren’t currently romantically involved, this is the week to get out and meet people, Sagittarius. Be tuned in to who the universe is putting in your path.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

Pay very close attention to your dreams in the coming days.

They may hold more meaning than you initially think.

This week will be a great time to expand your horizons and try things that are new and foreign to you, Virgo. Get out there!

There’s a serious shake-up coming in one of the aspects of your life, Capricorn. Batten down the hatches and hold on tight.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

You’re going to be in a good mood for significant stretches this week, Gemini. People will notice and it’s going to be infectious.

Some surprising developments will crop up in your personal life this week, Libra. Be sure to take full advantage of them.

Something bizarre may happen to you this week, Aquarius. At first you’ll be baffled, but slowly it will start to make sense.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

If there is a gathering of people you know this week, Cancer, make sure you attend. You never know who might be there.

An unexpected lucky break may come your way in the next few days, Scorpio. You might not see it coming, but be sure to enjoy it.

Your mind may not be firing on all cylinders this week, Pisces. It’s important now more than ever to think before you speak.

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

crossword answer key

A

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

B

31 jan 10 – Jan 16 /verbsaskatoon

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