Verb Issue S276 (Feb. 7-13, 2014)

Issue #276 – February 7 to February 13

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daphie pooyak Local storyteller on the power of words a lot from a little Q+A with Mobina Galore the monuments men + arctic Defenders Films reviewed­ Photo: courtesy of the artist

NEWs + Opinion

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storytellers festival Daphie Pooyak on the meaning of stories

4 / Local

an auditory experience Exploring the mighty audiobook 6 / Local

dying with dignity

On the cover:

Our thoughts on legalizing assisted suicide. 8 / Editorial

Past + present. 16 / cover

Your say on mandatory flu shots for healthcare workers. 10 / comments

a tribe called red

comments

Photo: courtesy of brudder fallen tree

culture

Q + A with mobina galore On furious rock and roll. 12 / Q + A

the white room La Troupe du Jour explores international limbo in new play. 14 / Arts

a little slice of europe We visit Little Bird.

18 / Food + Drink

justice takes a holiday Mona Sharma explores unconventional justice 15 / Arts entertainment

music Datsik, Northcote + Phillip Phillips 19 / music

live music listings Local music listings for February 7 through February 15. 20 / listings

monuments men + Arctic defenders We review the latest movies 22 / Film

Nightlife Photos

Games + Horoscopes

We visit Mulligan’s + Crown & Rok.

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

24 / Nightlife

verbnews.com @verbsaskatoon facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

on the bus Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 30 / comics

Editorial

ART & Production

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contact

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

Design Lead / andrew yanko graphic 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 /

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Storytelling: Bringing the past, present, and future into focus Daphie Pooyak to talk at the 2014 Storytellers Festival

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

T

his is how the world was divided,” says Daphie Pooyak. Her words are articulate, slow, measured. They have to be. Pooyak is a First Nations storyteller. It’s her responsibility to keep her culture alive by telling their stories in a way where anyone can understand the message.

Pooyak pauses, takes a breath, then continues.

“In a dream, I was taken around the world four times,” she says, “We were moving really fast when we finally stopped and I looked up and saw a huge hill of sand. I looked to the right, to the left. Everywhere I looked there was sand. We were in a desert on the other side of the world. My grandfather said: ‘Grandchild, we came here to show you how the world was divided.

The evil one, the negative one, he wanted the world for himself. So he went to this group of people here and said ‘God sent me to teach you about God. Did you know that God loves human beings more than he loves anything else in creation?

You are his children. He made human beings in his image. He made all those beautiful birds up in the sky just for human beings. Did you know that he made the fruit,

vegetables, plants, he made all that for the human beings to survive?

Did you know that God made all the four-legged, the fish, the trees, the rocks — this whole world, he made it just for the human beings because you are his children and he loves you more than anything.’”

And Pooyak says, “Pretty soon human beings started to believe him. They started to destroy everything around him without care …

This was the first lie ever told.’”

There’s a silence after she says this, as though she’s letting the idea sink in for me.

Then Pooyak says, “After that we started traveling again. We went to visit all the different people of the world. Grandfather said, ‘Next, the evil one went to all the different colours of people and said hey you black people, you’re different. Hey you white people, you’re different.

Hey you red people, hey you yellow people, you’re different.’ And pretty soon they started to believe him and this is where all the wars in the world started … That was the second lie he told.”

It wouldn’t be the last.

Storytelling holds a sacred place in aboriginal cultures around the

world. It is a chronicle of the past, a window to the present, and a key to the future. Through these tales, storytellers teach about right and wrong. About healing, history, humour and understanding — an understanding of where the aboriginal people came from and where they are going.

And from February 16 until the 21, some of the finest aboriginal storytellers on the continent will converge in Regina for the 2014 Annual Storytellers Festival.

Daphie Pooyak is one of them.

“I remember one time when I was small, my grandmother was leaving” recalls Pooyak, who is a Nakota-Cree woman from the Sweetgrass First Nation.

“She had her bags packed and I asked her where she was going. She told me Regina. I asked if I could go, but she said no. So I asked her why she was going there. She said, ‘I’m going to a storytelling festival’ … ever since then I wanted to go there and tell stories too.”

But being a storyteller involves more than a longing and a head full of stories.

“You can be given this beautiful story — a pure, clean message — but if you’re not cleaning yourself, if you’re not healing yourself, Continued on next page »

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working on yourself, you can ruin a beautiful story by the way it comes out of your mouth,” explains Pooyak, whose grandparents were both storytellers. “If you’re sitting in anger while you’re telling the story, [then] what you’re giving to the people is anger. If you’re sitting there telling the story because you want recognition, you’re ruining the story. The energy of your words hits people before the actual words hit them.”

So for Pooyak, it’s a constant process of self-healing. A constant process to become centred and pure in order to allow the Creator to come and help her deliver the message

Then the stories begin to fall, slow and measured, from her mouth. Captivating stories that help her people heal and understand the world around them.

Stories like the one she is telling me right now, about how the world became divided.

“We started to travel again,” says Pooyak, picking up her story where she left off.

“In my dream, we returned to North America. We started walking.

Grandfather said: ‘The evil one, the negative one, he wanted people to start listening to him instead of

If you’re sitting in anger while you’re telling the story, [then] what you’re giving to the people is anger. daphie pooyak

the way it was given to her — in a pure, loving, altruistic way.

Once this state-of-being is achieved, Pooyak is ready to tell the stories she carries. No two storytelling sessions are the same, however.

The only aspect of the sessions that remain constant is the prayer Pooyak says before beginning. “Creator,” she prays, “help me, guide me, lead me.

Allow me to deliver a message that the people need to hear.”

the Creator. So he went to all the tribes and told them their tribe was the best. Told them that everything they did was the best. Every other tribe should be like theirs, do it like them.’”

“Pretty soon they started to believe him,” she continues. “Pretty soon, the tribes started separating. Becoming more distant. Long ago, when there was a crisis in the world all the tribes would come

together and pray in their own individual way. Now they’re too busy arguing — our way is right, your way is wrong — because they believed the evil one.”

Pooyak’s voice is true and strong. She uses clear, concise words so that even a child can understand her story, her message.

With a cadence that is both subtle and powerful, she continues.

“From there we traveled to villages and communities. Grandfather said to me: ‘Grandchild, next the evil one went house to house, telling them I know everybody in this community, your family is the best. Everything they do is the best. Everyone else in your community should be like you.’

Pretty soon, they believed him and they started fighting and arguing.

They haven’t stopped.”

Here Pooyak pauses one last time, then says, “One of the greatest lies ever told is that the Creator loves this one more than that one.

We are all equal, we are equal to the four-legged, the winged ones, the insects, the water creatures, the plants, the trees, the rocks, all creation.”

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An auditory Local actor and author team up to release

B

efore Matt Josdal created his company, Aurora Audiobooks, he has some decisions to make.

The first and foremost being, naturally, what kind of books should he publish?

After a bit of consideration, Josdal decided he wanted all books under the Aurora aegis to be Canadian.

Having worked as a narrator and a voice-over artist for some time, Josdal was familiar with the audiobook industry and knew there was a gap that he could fill. See, the vast majority of Canadian audiobooks were being produced by American audiobook companies, with the content being read by American narrators.

So the decision to keep things closer to home —to put out Canadian audiobooks read by Canadian authors — was a natural, easy one to make.

Almost as easy as deciding to enter the audiobook market in the first place.

“It’s a growth industry right now,” explains Josdal. “Audiobooks are

exploding, have been for the last five years or so, and show no sign of slowing down.”

Taking one quick look at the numbers, and you see Josdal is right. Once a static niche filled with cassettes and CDs, the audiobook industry is now in full bloom. Shifts in digital technology (shifts that have allowed audiobooks to be downloaded to any smartphone or tablet) have lead to the creation of a $1.2-billion industry on the move. From 2010 to 2011, unit sales in downloaded audiobooks grew by nearly 30%.

Between 2011 and 2012, the number of titles in the audiobook industry increased from 7,237 to 13,255.

So yeah, for Josdal, entering a booming industry like this made perfect sense. The tricky part was figuring out which book would be the first release in the Aurora Audiobooks library.

Wes Funk calls it “the little book that could.” One cold winter, much like the winter we’re having now, Continued on next page »

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Photo: Courtesy of adam hawboldt

experience Aurora Audiobooks’ first title by ADAM HAWBOLDT Funk sat down to write a novel about a quirky record store owner named Jackson Hill. In the novel, Funk envisioned Hill living and working in Saskatoon. He envisioned Hills’s father suddenly dying, and the protagonist making the journey back to his hometown in southern Saskatchewan for the funeral. During the course of the narrative, Funk envisioned Hill meeting a handsome stranger, paying his last respects to his father, and having a blow-out with his brother over some deep, dark, lingering issue from the past.

That was the vision Funk had for the book. And in the winter of 20032004, he began writing it.

“That was one of the most creative outbursts I’ve ever had,” Funk says about the writing process. “It was almost like the book was using me as a tool to surface.”

And surface it did.

A few short months after typing the opening sentence, Funk was finished of the first draft of his novel — Dead Rock Stars.

Second and third drafts ensued.

By 2007, Dead Rock Stars was ready be put out to the world. He tried the traditional publishing route before decided to self-publish. The first run of books was 500 copies. It sold out in a couple of months.

Then he ordered another run.

And another. The book kept selling.

Dead Rock Stars is currently in its fifth run.

Somewhere along the way, during one of those runs, Matt Josdal was given a copy of the book. He didn’t read it right away. But when it came time to figure out which novel he wanted to publish first on the Aurora Audiobooks label, Josdal decided he wanted to keep things close to home and work with a local Saskatchewan author. So he started voraciously reading Sask-Lit. “I read everything I could get my hands on,” remembers Josdal.

“Someone had given me Dead Rock Stars as a gift — I don’t remember who. It was just sitting there on my bookshelf. So one day I started reading it and instantly knew it

was the one. It was what I was looking for.”

When you’re looking for a novel to record as an audiobook, there are certain questions you have to ask yourself. Does it have a good story?

Does it have a good voice? Is it one of those books that are so overly concerned with their own literary prowess that it will end up boring a listener to tears, or is it one of those novels that moves and shakes — engaging listeners at every turn?

After reading Dead Rock Stars, all these questions and more were answered for Josdal.

“Wes’ book just had a great story,” says Josdal. “It’s broken into nice digestible chapters, which is a good way for an audiobook to present itself because people often don’t listen to a full audiobook in one sitting … it’s usually a half hour here and there. It’s got a really clear voice.

It’s written in first person. It was clear to me right away who this character was and how to tell this story.”

So after discussing the project with Funk, ironing out the details and going over the fine print, Josdal leapt head-first into narrating and recording Dead Rock Stars.

The result was everything Funk and Josdal hope for — and then some. “He absolutely nailed it,” said Funk, of Josdal’s voice work.

“He nailed the character, he nailed the voice. He even nailed all the humour that was supposed to come across in the book.”

“Wes is too kind sometimes,” chuckles, Josdal. “My job is to stay out of the way of the story. It was all just a matter of letting the story tell itself and not interfere too much.

The humour is on the page. Wes is the funny one, not me.”

And now that Dead Rock Stars is out on audiobook (available digitally at www.auroraaudiobooks.ca and soon to be released as a CD), it’s time for Josdal to move on and make another one.

It shouldn’t take too long. He already has a couple of titles in the works. The only decision he has to make now is, which one to go with?

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Dying with dignity

We should allow terminally ill patients the option of euthanasia

I

n 1992, a woman named Sue Rodriguez was living in Victoria, B.C., suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease. She went to court to fight for her right to assisted suicide. It didn’t work. In a 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld section 241(b) of Criminal Code of Canada, which states that helping a person commit suicide is illegal.

Now, twenty-two years later, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association that could provide terminally ill patients with end-of-life rights. The plaintiffs in the case include Gloria Taylor, who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease before she died in 2012, and Kathleen Carter, who traveled to Switzerland in 2010 to end her life with the help of a doctor.

We applaud this move as a step in the right direction. And we hope that, this time around, the Supreme Court strikes down section 241(b) of our Criminal Code, and legalizes assisted suicide coast to coast in our country.

Of course, any conversation about assisted suicide has to be conducted in a sensitive manner, but lucky for us we’re able to look to other models to see what works and what doesn’t. For example, the Netherlands regulates euthanasia through the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act, which came into effect in 2002.

Through this act, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are legal — in very specific cases, and under specific conditions. For example, for a patient

to be granted the right to end their own life their suffering must be unbearable with no prospect of improvement.

What’s more, the patient’s request for euthanasia must be voluntary and persist over time (the request cannot be granted when under the influence of others, psychological illness, or drugs).

Oh, and the patient must be fully aware of his/her condition, prospects and options.

A few more circumstances and conditions of the Netherlands model include: consultation with at least one other independent doctor who needs to confirm the conditions mentioned above; the death must be carried out in a medically appropriate fashion by the doctor or patient, in which case the doctor must be present; the patient is at least 12 years old, and patients between 12 and 16 years of age require the consent of their parents.

Okay, so perhaps 12 years old might be a tad young, but that just means we will have to sit down and discuss age restrictions. And because, as Justice Minister Peter MacKay recently said, “Assisted suicide is an emotional and divisive issue for many Canadians.” We will also have to take into consideration all objections and find a way to limit abuse of the system, such as doctors euthanizing patients without explicit consent, patients being pressured into choosing death, or people getting their legally mandated second opinion from a proeuthanasia doctor.

These are problems, very real problems, with the Netherlands’ system. So here in Canada we need to do better.

How? Simple. In addition to addressing the kinks in the Netherlands’ system, we could make it illegal for doctors to propose euthanasia or assisted suicide. And how about providing a panel of screened doctors, with no euthanasia affiliation, to give each potential candidate a second opinion.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

When it comes to assisted suicide, we have to be as thorough as possible. But first thing’s first. Before we can begin to implement new rules and regulations governing assisted suicide — rules and regulations that will minimize risk via stringent limits and ardent monitoring — the Supreme Court of Canada must do its part. For terminally ill people who are in a world of pain with no end in sight, we must do whatever we can to let them proceed with dignity.

We are keeping our fingers crossed.

After all, to paraphrase Sue Rodriguez, if we cannot give consent to our own death, whose body is this? Who owns our lives?

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

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On Topic: Last week we asked what you thought about mandatory flu vaccines for healthcare workers.

Here's what you had to say: – I think any1 who werks 4 healthcare should get there vaccinces cause they see some many people in a day and its very easily past 2 person 2 person and this will stop people from.getting colds and flus plus its also good for them and there family and friends ***d.m.r.c***

– I would strongly encourage mandatory vaccinations for all health care workers for everyone’s protection. Truth Is Power-Try It

– I find it extremely surprising that vaccines are mandatory for healthcare workers already, though I suppose they don’t want to start down the slippery slope of mandating what certain portions of the population has to put in their bodies. Seems like a dangerous

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r B 8372

precedence to set, but in this case the flu vaccine is fairly benign, has been around for ages, and protects patients from a potentially life threatening illness/disease.

– I work in healthcare, and am completely against your proposal which is wrongheaded. While I understand the benefits of the vaccine more than the general population (and do get it personally, and encourage others to do so), making it mandatory is dangerous. Just imagine if YOUR place of business made you did it? It’s still beneficial whether you work in a mine, in a school or in a hospital to have your vaccine. The same argument still applies: getting the vaccine protects those around you. BUT no one else would stand for this. So why should I?

– Really, unless you are allergic everyone should get there flu shot.

Healthcare workers, sure, but everyone else. We could eradicate the flu together! And it’s free so why not?!

– Yes to flu vaccines if you work in a hospital and have direct contact with patients. Those people are sick and don’t need to get worse by getting something that could be prevented by a vaccine.

– Sorry to burst your bubble but the flu vaccine only works some of the time, if the one that is created meshes with whatever strain of the virus is out. You can coerce people into getting their flu shot but it might not even do anything? So why should we make people just do it?

OFF TOPIC – Sexworkers should b the authority on creating legal regulations fo theircareers becausethey are affected most. SW’s deserve workers rights!

In response to “Sex work in Saskatchewan,” Local, #275 (January 31, 2014)

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– Powerful story on the woman who works as an escort. I think it is interesting to hear the perspective of someone who chose to be in the industry. I agree with her sentiment, though, that the laws need to change and the government needs to dialogue with those who work directly in the industry.

In response to “Sex work in Saskatchewan,”

sign in their back window of their vehicle and yet they are driving like maniacs running red lights and speeding? It doesn’t make sense to me!

– Lol everyone is getting so worked up over the Olympics. The fact that they’re such a screw up is hilarious and the only reason I’m paying attention!

– Ed Sullivan walks into a pet store and says Ladies and gentleman The Gerbals!

– I’m getting really sick of people talking S--- about stuff they don’t know anything about maybe think before you speak your a grownup afterall

Local, #275 (January 31, 2014)

SOUND OFF – I find it amusing how the news anchor says Good Evening and then spends the rest of the program telling you why it’s not.

– THANKS DOWNTOWN GUY!

– Why is it there are some drivers that will have a Baby On Board

– What makes a cold winter worse is listening to people complain about it all the time like no one else has ventured outside. We get it! IT SUCKS!

– Tar sands, 0il, Uranium, Screw The Lives of the SLAVE!!! and the Environment!! THE Company Cares less!!! Considering The $$$ They make at Human Cost...And Pad the POCKET Thanks permits F0H...

Next week: What do you think about legalizing assisted suicide in Canada? Text in your thoughts to 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

– Wow people are maniac drivers out there. There should be a test before you’re allowed to drive not just the one when your 16 but every 10 or something years later because there are some adults are are f-ing stupid behind the wheel.Morons.

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A lot from a little Photos: courtesy of jenna priestner + jeremy borshneck + kotyk

Mobina Galore make furious rock music with just a guitar, some drums, and a whole lot of anger

by Alex J MacPherson

J

enna Priestner and Marcia Hanson have been making fractious, stripped-down punk rock songs for more than three years. Using little more than an electric guitar, a violently loud amplifier, and a set of drums, the two musicians — who perform under the name Mobina Galore — reduce rock and roll music to its essence. Fueled by anger and regret, 2012’s Skeletons EP featured blistering guitar riffs, machine-gun power chords, cacophonous drumming, and

stripped down EP so engaging and accessible. In the meantime, Priestner and Hanson hope to help keep rock alive by stripping whatever they can — and leaving everything else on the stage, in a steaming puddle of beer, sweat, and blood. Last week I caught up with Priestner to learn more about the peripatetic punk band and its forthcoming album.

Priestner’s grimy rasp. After several months in Vancouver, the band decamped to Winnipeg, Manitoba and began laying plans for a full-length album.

Although it won’t be released until the end of the year, a pair of tracks released to the band’s Soundcloud page suggest that the still-untitled album will cram all of the rage of Skeletons into a much more refined package. The new album promises to build on the band’s frantic garage-core origins while sacrificing none of the raw fury that made their

Alex J MacPherson: The band started in Fernie, moved to Vancouver, and is now based in Winnipeg.

Why the change?

Jenna Priestner: I was living out in Fernie to snowboard and hang out — you know, live the dream in the mountains. Marcia, who’s from Winnipeg, moved out there, which is where we met. We started playing music just for fun; there are lots of jam nights that go on in Fernie. Once the band got a little more serious we moved to Vancouver, for about ten months, to see how our music would work in a large city.

While we were there, Marcia’s dad passed away. She’s from Winnipeg,

and it seemed like the only decision to make was to move to Winnipeg. We had only briefly been in Vancouver, and weren’t feeling like that’s where we needed to be musically. We’ve been here ever since.

AJM: From a musician’s perspective, what does Winnipeg offer a band like yours that Vancouver couldn’t, or didn’t?

JP: You know, I feel like a lot of it is not just the musicians, but also the people that like music — people that maybe don’t play music themselves but are out to support the loContinued on next page »

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cal venues and the local bands and the touring bands. Coming here, I think people are more accepting of every genre. There’s musicians here that play in two or three bands, and one can be a hardcore noise band and the other can be a synth-pop band. People just like to play music here, and people like to support

like music like that. When I was a teenager, my brother got me into punk music and grunge music, and that’s kind of what sparked all of this.

AJM: You released the EP, Skeletons, almost two years ago, and it’s pretty raw. It feels more like a foundation than an expression of what the band can do.

Everything’s a lot easier when there’s only two people involved in it… jenna priestner

people who play music here. It kind of goes hand-in-hand. It’s just good, there’s a lot of love and support in this community.

AJM: Duos featuring a drummer and a guitar player aren’t unprecedented, but they’re not exactly common. What made you decide to keep playing as a duo rather than following the traditional path and adding more members?

JP: When we were living in Fernie, we were playing with a keyboard player in another band, another thing. When that ended, that’s kind of how Mobina Galore started — we were just left with two. It started with it being a complete challenge, and us thinking that this isn’t even something we can do live, to finding more and more duos pop up. It was challenging at first, but now we talk about getting other members but we don’t; we throw it out there but then we’re like, why? Everything’s a lot easier when there’s only two people involved in it, as opposed to four or five people that have a say. Now I feel like there’s more duos popping up. It’s cool to see and it makes us want to be part of this potential emerging new music.

AJM: Could it be that the rise of the duo is a reaction to the weight of the enormous indie rock collectives that dominated for so long?

JP: I wouldn’t say that it’s an intentional reaction. We listen to bands like the Arcade Fire, who have twelve people in the band, give or take. We

JP: We recorded that when we were in Vancouver. Our friend was going to the Art Institute of Vancouver for production — I’m not sure exactly what the program was. Basically, they have access to all this top-of-the-line recording equipment and all that stuff.

That being said, he’s not a professional producer or engineer; he was in school for it. It cost us next to nothing, it was great hanging out with a buddy and getting to record for super cheap.

Everything about that album was very simply arranged, produced, and recorded. We didn’t have a third party involved giving us any direction; it was just that we wanted to get some songs recorded, sell some CDs on the road — that was basically what that album was for.

AJM: What about the songs themselves? Skeletons was drenched in regret and anger, like you were examining an ugly past and an unpleasant present.

JP: I think it’s been very similar. I feel like every time we write a song, we start and Marcia’s like, let’s write a happy and more upbeat punk rocks song. Okay, sounds good. But it always leans towards more of a dramatic storyline. I guess that’s just the way that I write. I find it easier to write about things with a bit of negative energy as opposed to the happy things in life, because I find when I write more positive happygo-lucky songs, everything turns a bit too poppy.

Mobina Galore (with Me the Guts and Nodding Donkey) February 20 @ Vangelis Tavern $8 at the door

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AJM: And now you’re recording a fulllength with John Paul Peters, who has worked with Propagandhi and Royal Canoe. What can people expect from the new album?

JP: I think one of the main things is you can tell there’s been a lot more time put into the preproduction of the songs. All the songs have been written, re-written, and re-arranged a handful of times, and for us, that’s what we’ve realized works.

There’s a lot more confidence in my voice: I’ve been a little raspier with my voice these days, as opposed to what’s on the Skeletons album, and with that I think comes pure emotion and confidence. We’ve been playing a ton in the year and a half since we moved here, and it’s evident on the album.

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Photos: courtesy of Kevin Hogarth, courtesy of La Troupe du Jour

The White Room International limbo plays out in a modern chamber of horrors on La Troupe du Jour’s stage by Alex J MacPherson

A

man walks into the Canadian embassy in an unstable Middle Eastern country. He presents a damaged and dirty passport and demands passage on the next flight to Canada. A cursory examination of his documents reveals a host of problems. His name appears on an international no-fly list and he has a long trail of suspicious family connections. The consular staff are convinced that he is a terrorist.

Trapped in a white room, between a country he wants to flee and one that doesn’t want him back, the man is interrogated by a consular attaché. As the clock sweeps around and around, a government official and a suspected terrorist forge an unusual bond — one that threatens to transcend politics, religion, and the imposing shadow of fear itself.

“There are just two characters and, at the very beginning of the play, their relationship is extremely confrontational,” says Bruce McKay, who will appear opposite Paul Fruteau de Laclos in the premiere

of Ian C. Nelson’s The White Room, a French play with English surtitles.

“Over the course of the play it evolves as new information comes to light and they get to know each other a bit better.

It’s very much about how we have our jobs to do and our orders to follow, that come from government above us, but ultimately we’re all still people. What’s the human relationship underneath all of that? How do you give yourself the freedom to explore that and treat each other like people, rather than just suspects and guards?”

The White Room explores political, cultural, and religious barriers, as well as racial profiling, immigration, and terrorism. These are the thorny topics that were thrust into the mainstream media after the attacks on New York City in September, 2001 and remain relevant today. According to McKay, Nelson’s play explores the blurry line between the need to preserve national security and the urge to forge meaningful connections, between cultural differences and common humanity. The setting is left deliberately vague, but the basic circum-

stances are alarmingly real. In 2002, for example, a Syrian-Canadian named Maher Arar was arrested in the United States, questioned for two weeks, and eventually deported to Syria, where he was detained for almost a year — and according to a Canadian commission of inquiry, tortured.

“I think it’s pretty apropos,” McKay says. “One of the big questions is: to what extent do we allow fear of the unknown to control our actions? Are we so afraid that we don’t treat people the way we should, strip them of their basic rights?” Put another way, The White Room casts the broad mandate of governments against the impulses of humans. The suspected terrorist and the attaché have roles in the unfolding drama of global politics, but they are also two men in a room sharing a conversation. By reducing the alarmist tendencies of the general public to a simple conversation, Nelson highlights the dissonance between the responsibilities of public office and the rights of human beings. The play is provocative because it does not shy away from difficult questions, but Nelson does not offer any clear answers. McKay says the idea is to spark conversations that burn long after the curtain comes down.

“How do you overcome those barriers?” he says. “There’s cultural barriers, linguistic barriers, religious barriers.

Our whole social evolution is geared toward it: how do we reconcile those differences? How do we learn to coexist peacefully and flourish together whilst trying to protect our own beliefs, whatever they are? How do we deal with the conflict in a healthy way?”

These are problems that have plagued humanity since the first man threw the first stone. The heightened tensions and chaotic political landscape of the post-2001 world have made finding answers more important than ever before, so that events like those portrayed in The White Room can remain where they belong, on the stage and not in on the streets.

The White Room February 6–8, 13–16 (English surtitles 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16) @ La Troupe Du Jour $20 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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Justice Takes A Holiday Montreal artist Mona Sharma explores unconventional idea of justice in her exhibition of graphic drawings by Alex J MacPherson

1. Justice Takes A Holiday, detail, Mona Sharma, 2013

M

ona Sharma’s exhibition, Justice Takes A Holiday, explores conceptions of justice that exist outside western norms. A collection of graphic drawings projected onto screens, the exhibition seeks to undermine assumptions held in place by nothing more than dogma and doctrine. “We create prisons because we say we have to do something about crime,” she says. “But it doesn’t alleviate any situations; it makes it worse in the long run. Why are societies having so much difficulty with the idea of changing the concept of justice?” Justice Takes A Holiday is not a blanket condemnation of western thought; instead, it challenges basic assumptions by presenting alternatives that are unusual, provocative, and fascinating.

“A lot of these drawings are about showing people how fluid the idea of justice is,” the Montreal-based artist says of the exhibition, which consists of two screens on which a rotating series of images are projected. “The drawings are supposed to show that [justice] is happening all the time, every day. I want to show different examples of it from around the world, and I want those examples to make you think about how you thought of ideas of justice in the past, as being very solid or not.”

Sharma is best known for making soft sculptures, works that conceal difficult truths behind a plush exterior.

During the day, she works as a medical illustrator in a patient education centre; she makes drawings that teach people how their body works and how to take care of it. She was inspired to transpose her day job into art when she realized that the medium was trusted and readily accessible; her graphic artworks use similar techniques to access ideas more complicated than basic hygiene or reproductive health.

The simplified shapes and bold colours reflect her belief that art should be inclusive. “Sometimes, we think that if something is difficult, that means the language or the vehicle used to describe it should be equally difficult, when no, that’s not the case,” she says.

“It doesn’t help anything.”

The drawings in Justice Takes A Holiday are stylistically similar. Thematically, however, they are extremely diverse. One image addresses the economic gulf dividing Africa and North America, a second links between violence, money, and race. A third image depicts the serene beauty of the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in Islam and the focal point of Mecca. “There’s a huge problem in Quebec right now, with the charter of values,” Sharma says of the drawing, which depicts the rarely seen interior of the building.

“Everyone describes [Islam] as some big, bad thing, but how does religion

start? At the centre of it, it’s a people having a faith in the idea of beauty.”

A fourth drawing addresses the harsh reality facing transgender people, and the different ways societies have addressed problems of acceptance, violence, and suicide. The image depicts the Hindu demigod Aravan, the patron of the Indian transgender community, opposite two transgender women. “They view [Aravan] as their husband, and he died,” Sharma says of the 18-day festival held each year in Tamil Nadu. “The transgender people come together and they’re his widows.

They cry, but it’s very happy because they’re getting together and everyone’s admiring them. I’ve always been super fascinated by that culture, because so many times people say, ‘In the west we’re so advanced with human rights.’

I’m like, no man, there’s some things that happen in other countries, and can maybe only happen there, but are much less isolating than it is here.”

In other words, Justice Takes A Holiday is about challenging deeply-rooted conceptions of justice. But Sharma’s exhibition is also about challenging one of the mandates of the political correctness movement — that certain topics are off-limits. “People just stopped having the dialogue, but that doesn’t mean the thoughts go away,” Sharma says, of important conversations muzzled by the fear of causing offense. Put simply, Justice Takes A Holiday is a plea for free and open dialogue – and an expression of the idea that communication is the first step toward understanding and, eventually, justice.

Justice Takes A Holiday Through February 22 @ AKA Gallery

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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Past & Present Photo: courtesy of Sebastien Roy

A Tribe Called Red fuse tradition to create politically-charged and emotionally powerful dance music by Alex J MacPherson

T

he key to understanding A Tribe Called Red is rooted not in politics or cultural identity, but in one of the most basic expressions of what it means to be human. The perfect fulcrum of emotional articulation and kinetic beauty, dancing transcends cultural differences, political borders, and personal boundaries. And it is what A Tribe Called Red does best. Blending traditional pow wow music with a range of contemporary club sounds, from glitchy dubstep to mesmeric trance, A Tribe Called Red’s sound fuses dance music from the past to dance music from the present. Since the group emerged in 2010, its unique remix of cultural ideas has become a political force, its members outspoken advocates of indigenous rights. The three DJs were catapulted onto the national stage following the rise of the Idle No More movement in December 2012, their music held up as the ideal example of tradition and innovation. And there is no question that A Tribe Called Red’s music is inextricably linked to politics. But according to Bear Witness, who formed the group with Ian “DJ NDN” Campeau and Dan “DJ Shub” General, A Tribe Called Red will always make music meant for dancing.

“I like to talk about it as a cultural continuance,” he says of the group’s music, exemplified by their hyperenergetic sophomore album, 2013’s Nation II Nation. “Kind of looking at how pow wow culture has been used as a social gathering and a cultural gathering, and adapting that to our urban lives here in 2014. So where do we gather like that in cities? Well, clubs.

So we try to move those same ideas into our club environment, as DJs.” In

wildly successful — last week the group was nominated for two Junos, for breakthrough artist of the year and electronic album of the year.

A Tribe Called Red was formed as an offshoot of Electric Pow Wow, a riotous dance party directed at the Ottawa indigenous community and designed to show off the talents of Aboriginal DJs and producers. “The music grew out of that party, the success of that party, and [us] wanting to create some-

…the political part of A Tribe Called Red is part of the package, really. It’s part of the responsibility of what we’re doing. bear witness

other words, A Tribe Called Red seized on the elements shared by all dance music — driving rhythms, grinding beats, and ear-catching hooks. By folding them together, the group created a new kind of dance music (they call it “pow wow-step”) that transposes the vital functions of the pow wow into the modern nightclub. The group’s music is much more than just a cultural remix; it is the contemporary manifestation of an ancient tradition. And it has been

thing … that represented them,” Bear Witness says. “We didn’t really think of it outside of that. And we continue to be surprised by the way that nonindigenous people are reacting to the pow wow music we’re using.”

Last year, the three members of A Tribe Called Red recorded and released their second album, Nation II Nation.

Unlike the group’s eponymous debut, which was a collection of tracks produced over almost three years, Nation Continued on next page »

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II Nation was conceived and executed as a record, a coherent whole. The record also benefited from the group’s relationship with Tribal Spirit Music, a Quebec-based record label that specializes in pow wow music. “They opened up their catalogue to us,” Bear Witness explains. “Before, it was always about looking and hunting for the right pow wow songs to sample, the ones that had the right bits and pieces that we could use. But when Tribal Spirit stepped in — and they represent, I think, ten or twelve pow wow [groups] — that changed it for us. All of a sudden we had this body of material to work from. And on top of that, they said to us, ‘what do you guys need?

What can we give you that will make this better or easier for your process of remixing it?’ We said we’d really like to get isolated tracks.”

The quality of the source material is evident on Nation II Nation, which is more cohesive, more refined, and more compelling than its predecessor. Casting the familiar glitches, buzzes, and thumps of popular club music against the timeless sound of pow wow singing, the tracks that make up Nation II Nation are relentlessly propulsive. This is music meant for movement, but it is also political. “That’s all we set out to do originally,” Bear Witness says. “We just wanted to make really good dance music and have a really great dance party. The thing is, when you take that idea and point it toward the indig-

Photo: courtesy of Brudder Falling Tree

enous community, it becomes political very quickly. So the political part of A Tribe Called Red is part of the package, really. It’s part of the responsibility of what we’re doing.”

A Tribe Called Red’s politics manifest in two basic ways, directly and indirectly. Because the group’s music became the soundtrack to the Idle No More movement, it is impossible to separate the emotional impact of their dance tracks from the emotional im-

pact of the movement itself. But Bear Witness, Campeau, and General have also emerged as outspoken advocates for Aboriginal people in Canada. Last year, Campeau became the face of the campaign to persuade the Nepean Redskins, an Ottawa youth football team, to change its name. (“The players call each other ‘redskins’ on the field,” Campeau said in a press release. “How are they going to differentiate the playing field from the school yard?” In September, the team agreed to rechristen itself the Nepean Eagles.)

The three DJs have also been critical of trends in fashion based on stereotypes and cultural appropriation. According to Bear Witness, the sight of young white people brazenly wearing headdresses to the group’s shows was shocking. “I was definitely taken aback by it — that whole feeling of, really? Is this happening again?” But instead of lashing out, the group decided to do something proactive. “Right away, I was able to recognize it as an opportunity,” he says. “Here we are with this fake stuff everywhere, and now that we have people’s ear we have an opportunity to show them what’s real. At one festival in particular there was a lot of headdresses in the audience and we had a traditional dancer come out onstage. Right away it was there, it was in their faces: this is obviously not what you’re dressed up as.”

This theme is also found in the elaborate visual displays Bear Witness creates to accompany the group’s performances. For the song “NDNs From All Directions,” which sampled and remixed the dancehall artist Super Cat, Bear Witness extracted footage from the video for “I’m An Indian Too,” a song by the British pop singer Cliff Richard. “It’s all British people dancing and dressed up in feathers and loincloths,” he says. “And then on top of that sampled in some stuff from the Walking Dead, where they’re all saying, ‘let’s have a pow wow.’ So all these elements we’re bringing in — Jamaican dudes, British pop stars, American actors — none of that is indigenous.

What makes it indigenous is when we remix it all, when we take it all together and spit it back out.”

Perhaps the broadest expression of the group’s politics is bound up in the title of Nation II Nation. It is a

statement that can be read on many different levels — “like a lot of things we do,” Bear Witness says with a laugh. Because Bear Witness and General are Iroquois while Campeau is Ojibway, the title refers to the flow of creative energy between two First Nations communities that were once bitter rivals. On a broader level, Nation II Nation speaks to the evolving relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Canada.

“We’ve seen this explosion of indigenous people using their traditional music and mixing it with electronic music,” Bear Witness says. “So being part of this global indigenous community is another nation to nation conversation. It’s a good jumping-off point to talk about the whole indigenous experience.”

That experience is bound up in A Tribe Called Red’s music. But the group’s music also captures some of the difficulties ignorant to building bridges between communities — communities with a historically adversarial relationship. “Especially in a country like Canada, a settler nation, the construct that is Canada is really fragile,” he says, “especially when you start talking about indigenous issues and indigenous rights. So it becomes a very difficult conversation to have, because it very quickly turns to anger and name-calling, on both sides.” And more than anything else, this is why A Tribe Called Red has been embraced by people across the country, regardless of cultural background. “When you start moving that conversation into a club environment, you’re hitting people when they’re not expecting it. Again, it might be something that snaps to you days or weeks later, and that works too. It’s not something that has to be immediate or understood in the moment.” In the end, he adds, “if people are just coming out and having a good time, that’s still what we went out to accomplish.”

A Tribe Called Red February 19 @ O’Brians Event Centre $25 @ http://tickets.obrianseventcentre.ca

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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A little slice of Europe Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt

The Little Bird Café big on taste and atmosphere by adam hawboldt

T

he Little Bird Pâtisserie and Café is deceiving.

From the outside, looking at the storefront from across Avenue B South, Little Bird looks like a small, rather nondescript place. Nothing really jumps out at you. But the second you

and white walls. Chalkboards with drink selections are staggered on the far back wall, and display all your liquid needs — coffee, latte, tea, etc. Walk to the chalkboards, turn to the right, and there’s a completely different part of the café, which is filled with benches running along the far wall, tables, and more light wooden chairs.

The whole thing has a very European, laid-back-yet-stylish feel, and is the perfect place to grab a coffee and a quick bite to eat.

If you’re really hungry, make sure you get there between 11am and 2pm. That’s when lunch (the menu changes weekly) is served. When I was there, the menu consisted of six items: a pork loin with bacon, pickled green beans and cilantro mayo sandwich; a tomato, cucumber, eggplant puree sandwich; butternut squash with lemon creme fraiche soup; turkey broth with potato dumplings; and two salads (one with fennel, eggs and a basil anchovy dressing, the other a spinach salad with onions, feta and grapes).

walk through the doors, it’s a whole other story.

The ceilings go up, way up, and are adorned with white, exposed pipes.

Very industrial, and very modern.

There are hanging light fixtures, and wooden chairs that stand in stark, elegant contrast to the white table tops

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide french sidecar

Ingredients

The origins of this drink are debatable. It was thought to have been invented in France around the end of the Second World War. Some say Harry’s Bar in Paris created it, others believe it was the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Either way, it’s a sublime concoction.

3/4 oz Cointreau 1 1/2 oz Cognac 2/4 oz lemon juice

Directions

Put Cointreau, cognac and lemon juice into a shaker with cracked ice. Shake until frosty. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass that had its outside rim rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar. Serve.

Seeing as it was closing in on 4pm, I went to the display counter and saw what was available. So much caught my eye, but in the end I decided to go savoury with a little bit of sweet.

First thing I ordered was a ham and parmesan sweet dough roll, which was incredible. The pastry was light and chewy without being flaky enough to make a mess. The ham was perfectly cooked, and the big slice of parmesan on top provided a lovely counterpoint to the sweet dough.

I next sampled a potato and fromage frais tart — holy moly, was it tasty! The tart was a hearty mid-afternoon option: sweet, herby and cheesy all at the same time. Delicious!

For dessert I had a chocolate, coffee, toffee cookie — it was a complex little dainty that was moist and full of big flavour.

In fact, everything I had at Little Bird Pâtisserie and Café was delectable. Which makes me think that lunch (which changes on Tuesday every week) is a must-do, very, very soon.

Litte Bird Pâtisserie and Café 258 Avenue B South | (306) 384 4663 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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music

Next Week

coming up

Datsik

Northcote

Phillip Phillips

@ Tequila Nightclub Sunday, February 16 – $25+

@ Vangelis tavern Wednesday, February 19 – $10 (advance) / $12 (door)

@ TCU Place Sunday, March 23rd – $35+

Some times all it takes is one good show to give you motivation. For Kelowna’s Troy Beetles, that show happened at the Shambhala Electronic Music Festival in 2008. The performer that blew him away and got him into producing? Excision. After seeing that show, Beetle — who goes by the stage name Datsik — began producing and collaborating with Excision. By 2009, he had a host of #1 releases on Beatport. Although he’s remixed and collaborated with everyone from the Wu-Tang Clan to The Crystal Method, Datsik hasn’t slowed down. He’s also founded his own record label, Firepower Records, in 2012. And while he’s busy with that, Datsik still finds time to be one of the finest dubstep producers in the country. Tickets at http://www. digitalassassinstour.com.

If you chat with Saskatchewan’s Matt Goud, say, on the street, he’ll come across as a soft-spoken, gentle man. But get him behind the mic, and things are a bit different. His voice is strong, confident, unwavering, especially in his post-hardcore/punk bandplaying days. These days, though, Goud is performing as a singer/songwriter named Northcote. Playing an infectious brand of roots/folk music, Goud (aka Northcote) has been a busy man — touring the nation coast to coast and back again. Along the way he’s played with such acts as Yukon Blonde, The Wooden Sky and Library Voices. With a unique voice and excellent lyrics, Goud’s music has the ability to connect with audiences on a deep and meaningful level. Advance tickets through ticketedge.ca.

When Phillip Phillips auditioned for the 11th season of American Idol, he had no idea what the future had in store for him. He breezed through the competition as the only contestant who was never in jeopardy of elimination before beating Jessica Sanchez in the final. His coronation song, “Home,” went on the be the bestselling coronation song in the show’s history. That was back in 2012. These days, the 23-year-old singer/songwriter from Georgia is a platinum-selling recording artist who is busy touring and introducing North America to his debut album, The World From the Side of the Moon. He’ll be hitting up Saskatoon on March 23 as part of the Canadian leg of his tour, so be sure to check this superstar out. Tickets are available through tcutickets.ca.

– By Adam Hawboldt

Photos courtesy of: the artist / the artist / the artist

Sask music Preview The Saskatchewan Country Music Association and North East Country Music Association are thrilled to announce that Charlie Major will be the headliner and guest host of the 2014 SCMA Awards Weekend and Country Music Festival — tickets are available through picatic.ca. Saskatchewan artists are encouraged to apply to showcase their talents! The deadline to apply is March 10; more information at www.scma.sk.ca Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

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february 7 » february 15 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

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Friday 7

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover Lou Reed Tribute Night / Amigos — With Maybe Smith + more. 10pm / Cover TBD Ray Stephanson / The Bassment — It’s piano Friday! 4:30pm / No cover Outside the Wall / The Bassment — A Pink Floyd tribute band. 9pm / $17/$23 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover Nightrain / Buds on Broadway — A Guns N’ Roses tribute band. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Czech / Cosmo Centre — The renegade master is back! 9pm / $15 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

Rock the Shelter / O’Brians Event Centre — Foam Lake + more raise funds for the SPCA! 7pm / $10 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 Neil Roston / Prairie Ink — A blues/folk duo. 8pm / No cover Apollo Cruz / Rock Bottom — A highoctane blues show. 9pm / Cover TBD Tribute to Everly Brothers and the Monkeys / Royal Canadian Legion (Nutana) — Come listen to some golden oldies.

8pm / $12/$15 Jomama / Stan’s Place — A rockin’ good time at Stan’s. 9:30pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie + Brad King. 10pm / $5 Torro Torro / Tequila — A Toronto-based EDM duo. 8:30pm / $15 DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD Good Enough / Vangelis — With Herd of Wasters and Reeta Mckneals. 10pm / Cover TBD

Saturday 8

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Les Hay Babies / Amigos — Bilingual folk music from NB10pm / Cover TBD The Pianomen / The Bassment - With David Fong, Don Griffith, and more. 8pm / $15/$20

DJ Aash Money + DJ Sugar Daddy / Béily’s — These two DJs throw down a dance party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 Nightrain / Buds on Broadway — A Guns N’ Roses tribute band. 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 DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 It’s Too Late Baby / Prairie Ink — Performing songs by Carole King and James Taylor. 8pm / No cover Danger Bay / Rock Bottom — With Dames, Ollie Ox + more. 9pm / Cover TBD Jomama / Stan’s Place — A rockin’ 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

Romantic by Nature / TCU Place — The music of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

7:30pm / $6+ (tcutickets.ca) 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 Whiskey Jerks / Vangelis - With Old Joe and the Truth Hurts. 10pm / Cover TBD

Sunday 9

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 — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Blues Jam / Vangelis Tavern — The Vangelis Sunday Jam offers great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm / No cover

Monday 10

Matt Anderson / Broadway Theatre — East-coast singing/songwriting at its finest.

8pm / SOLD OUT DJ Audio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD

Tuesday 11

3 String Fretless / Buds — Come rock the night away at Bud’s. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce — This crowd favourite rocks. 9:30pm / $4 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 show your talent. 7pm / No cover

Wednesday 12

DJ Modus / 302 — Spinning all your favourite tracks. 9pm / $3 after 10pm 3 String Fretless / Buds — Come rock the night away at Bud’s. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — Spinning dope beats all night. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Memo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Buck Wild Wednesdays / Outlaws — Come ride the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4 Stephen Maguire / Rock Creek (Willowgrove) — Soul meets country. 8pm / Free Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie + Brad King

Continued on next page »

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belt out requests for your listening pleasure.

10pm / No cover

Thursday 13

3 String Fretless / Buds — Come rock the night away at Bud’s. 9pm / Cover TBD Throwback Thursdays / Earls — Funk, soul and more with Dr. J. 8pm / No cover DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music. 8pm / $4 cover Thunder Riot w/Conky Showpony / Rock Bottom — Come dance the night away. 9pm / $5 Dean Brody / TCU Place — One of Canada’s finest country stars. 8pm / $29.50+ Triple Up Thursdays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Dislexic. 9pm / Cover TBD Open Stage / The Woods — Hosted by Steven Maier. 9pm / No cover

Friday 14

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover We Were Lovers / Amigos Cantina — With Economics. 10pm / Cover TBD SSO Chamber Players / The Bassment — Come check out the SSO chamber players tickle the ivories. 4:30pm / No cover JP Cormier / The Bassment — A multitalented performer from Cape Breton. 9pm / $17/$23 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5

Men Without Shame / Buds — A glamified classic rock band. 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 Ricky Rock, Oakatron / Louis’ — Spend Valentine’s Day at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance party. 9pm / Cover TBD Passa Passa Valentine’s Day / O’Brian’s Event Centre — Featuring DJ Cruss, DJ Heywood + more. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm Urban Outlaws / Stan’s Place — A rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests.

10pm / $5 VIP 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 Bass Invaders / Vangelis — Some serious bass for Valentine’s Day. 10pm / Cover TBD

Saturday 15

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Pandas in Japan / Amigos — With Lords Kitchner, Triplophonics. 10pm / Cover TBD

Brett Balon and the Something Else Quintet / The Bassment — A night of Cannonball Adderly tunes. 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 Men Without Shame / Buds — A glamified classic rock party band. 9pm / 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 DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 In With the Old / Prairie Ink — A bluegrass/folk trio. 8pm / No cover Urban Outlaws / Stan’s Place — A rockin’ good way to spend a weekend. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5

DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD 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

Pop Quiz Party Jam / Vangelis — Featuring Waverace, Daniel Ether + more. 10pm / Cover TBD

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

21 Feb 7 – Feb 13 @verbsaskatoon

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Not monumental, but pretty good

Photo: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

The Monuments Men: an enjoyable, sincere, family friendly war flick by adam hawboldt

G

eorge Clooney is a man of many talents.

On screen he can play serious, funny, debonaire, intelligent, broken — the list goes on. He’s the kind of guy, that Cary-Grant-of-ourtimes archetype, who was born to be a movie star.

Off-screen, Clooney is one of the best, most notorious pranksters in Hollywood. Don’t believe me?

YouTube the story about the gravelin-the-suitcase gag he pulled on Bill Murray. Or better yet, search for the story about the prank he pulled on his old roommate. The one involving the constipated cat and a seriously soiled litter box.

Then there’s George Clooney, the director.

Behind the camera, the 52-yearold leading man has proved himself a competent, at times wildly talented, director. His Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was experimental and criminally underrated. Good Night, and Good Luck was a masterpiece. The Ides of March was a taut political thriller. And Leatherheads, well, everyone is allowed to miss the mark from time to time. Even George Clooney.

And depending on who you talk to, some people will tell you that he

missed the mark again with his latest film, The Monuments Men. That may be a little unfair.

Sure, it’s not as good as Good Night, and Good Luck. And it’s not quite in the same league as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. But The Monuments Men is still a pretty good movie.

The year is 1944. Springtime. The Second World War is reducing Europe to rubble. Bombs are being dropped on Germany, Italy, and France. Hitler and his Nazi hoards have stolen innumerable pieces of priceless art

The monuments men George Clooney Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman Directed by

112 minutes | PG

the Mona Lisa still smiling?” he asks the president. “If you destroy an entire generation of people’s culture, it’s as if they never existed.”

Eventually, Stokes gets approval to put together a crack team to go into war zones and retrieve the stolen

…considering the cast, [The Monuments Men] probably could’ve been better. adam hawboldt

art. And by “crack team” we’re not talking trained snipers or demolition experts. No, we’re talking about an expert art restorer (Matt Damon), an architect (Bill Murray), a sculptor (John Goodman), a theatre impresario (Bob Balaban), a disgraced museum head (Hugh Bonneville), and a former painting instructor (Jean Dujardin).

work (Vermeers, Picassos, van Eycks … the list goes on). Rumour has it that if the Germans surrender, they might destroy all they’ve stolen.

For Frank Stokes (Clooney), this is simply unacceptable. As the movie opens we see Stokes making his case to FDR. “Who will make sure that the statue of David is still standing and

Together they go through basic training (hilarity ensues), then head off to Europe to take on the Nazis and recover the art — using brains, not brawn, of course.

What follows isn’t exactly monumental, but it is enjoyable and sincere. Think Ocean’s Eleven (with helmets and uniforms) meets Saving Private Ryan (without the bloodshed), with a bit of Mona Lisa Smile and Stripes tossed in there for good measure.

Now, at times The Monuments Men can be a bit uneven and, consid-

ering the cast, it probably could’ve been better. But for the most part it is a well-crafted movie about culture, art, aspirations and a bunch of goodhearted misfits trying to fight for things worth fighting for.

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Defenders of the North

New documentary looks at life in the High Arctic with fresh eyes by adam hawboldt

Photo: Courtesy of john walker productions

T

he year was 1968. The world was in tumult.

Just one year after the Summer of Love, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. The Tet Offensive laid Saigon to waste, the My Lai massacre saw innocent victims slain, and the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia.

They were uncertain and shifting times — and not just in the epicentres of the Cold War. Closer to home, way up in the High Arctic, a change was taking place that would lay the foundation for something new, something important, something different. Armed with a 35mm camera, a young man by

the name of John Walker boarded a ship in Montreal and head north.

His destination?

Resolute Bay. Ever since he’d seen educational films about the region as a child, Walker had dreamed of visiting the High Arctic. He wanted to see what it was like, meet the people, document their way of life. But what he finds isn’t what he expects. The radicalism of the late ‘60s had begun to take hold amongst the Inuit population. They had started a political movement to stop the usage of the word “Eskimo.” They also had a dream — to one day have a territory of their own.

That was the High Arctic back then.

Fast forward 40-plus years, and Walker

has returned to Resolute Bay. His goal?

To make a documentary.

It ends up being called Arctic Defenders, and it’s one of those fact-filled, sometimes plodding but very important movies. A movie that shows a part of Canada’s history that not many people know about.

In this day and age, an age where climate change is on the tip of every tongue and Canada is trying to lay sovereign claim to the north, the High Arctic is front page news around the globe. Problem is, we rarely hear about the people who live there.

In Arctic Defenders, the people are cast into the spotlight. Walker’s aim is to tell his audience about the misguided attempts by our govern-

ment to claim the High Arctic. To show how a generation of radical change ended up in the formation of Nunavut (meaning “Our Land”). To show how the Inuit people, beaten but not broken, stood strong in the face of great adversity in order to preserve their culture and way of life.

He shows all this through beautiful footage, flashbacks, and talking head interviews with many Inuit leaders.

And I must admit, as a history lesson, it’s pretty powerful stuff. Sure, Arctic Defenders may not be the most riveting, suspenseful documentary you’ll ever see. Sometimes the sheer volume of facts gets in the way of the narrative. But for the most part, Arctic Defenders is one of those documenta-

Arctic defenders John Walker written by John Walker

Directed by

85 minutes | NR

ries that will teach you things. Things you didn’t know. Things that, as a Canadian, you probably should know.

Arctic Defenders will screen at the Broadway Theatre on February 11.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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saturday, february 1 @

mulligan’s

Mulligan’s Sports Lounge 806 Idylwyld Drive (306) 665-6500

Continued on next page »

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Check out our Facebook page!

These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, February 14. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Patrick Carley

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saturday, february 1 @

Crown & Rok

Crown & Rok 1527 Idylwyld Drive North (306) 249 4700

Check out our Facebook page!

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Photography by opalsnaps.com

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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 DOWN

27. Brandy glass 29. Come out in drops 32. Wooded areas 36. Cozy room 37. Corrupt morally 39. Slippery fish 40. Somewhat 42. Do something 43. Subject of study 44. Profession 46. Division of a baseball game 48. Literary work made up of parts from other works 49. Canonical hour 50. Head of a school department 51. Farm females

1. Religion native to Japan 2. Kind of top 3. Unrefined rock 4. Deductive reasoning 5. Metal made of copper and zinc 6. Utter an untruth 7. Fairy tale monster 8. Instrument with a long fretted neck 9. “Be quiet!”

11. Trousers 12. Builder’s detail, briefly 14. Forced to limp 17. People driving in cars 20. Church doctrine

1. Not hidden 2 sudoku answer key 24. Drug also called acid A 26. Before 28. Annuity scheme 29. Dutch cheese 30. Mediterranean ship 31. Acting as one 33. Best of seven, in sports 34. Young adults 35. Smelting waste matter B 38. Moses’ brother 41. Branch of a deer’s antlers 43. ìGreen Gables’ girl 45. Seventh Greek letter 47. At this moment

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

1. Ancient Greek covered walk 5. Online journal 9. Suitable for cutting 10. Make hastily 12. Black eye 13. Picture taken from a helicopter 15. Kind of rock 16. Part of TGIF 18. Active volcano in Sicily 19. French direction 20. Body part that doesn’t in clude the head, arms or legs 22. Money machine 23. Intestinal infection 25. Single line of poetry

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

ACROSS

© walter D. Feener 2014

Horoscopes february 7 - february 13 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

If someone, anyone, brings up the idea of going on a trip sometime soon, jump at the opportunity. Adventure awaits you where you least expect it.

Communicating isn’t usually a problem for you most weeks, Leo. This week things will be different, though, so take a beat before you speak.

Try to focus on an intellectual endeavour at some point this week, Sagittarius. It will pay off — big time.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

Try not to overindulge in anything this week, Taurus — it’s important to remember to take it easy. Too much of a good thing could come back to haunt you.

Opt for light-hearted banter over intense personal discussion this week, Virgo. There’s no need to get too serious.

Your insight and vision will be running high this week, Capricorn. Perhaps it’s time to take on a creative project.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

A social event could give rise to some very interesting possibilities, Gemini, so get out there and be seen.

It might be one of those weeks, Libra. One of those weeks where you just want to be left alone. Be sure to put in some quality me-time.

You will be surrounded by genuine love and affection this week, Aquarius. You deserve this, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

Do you have a secret that’s been bothering you for a while now?

If so, let the cat out of the bag. You’ll certainly feel better.

If you find yourself having excess energy this week, Scorpio, put it to good use. Maybe do something on the home front.

If you find yourself lost in that first rush of infatuation this week, Pisces, take a step back and evaluate the situation.

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

crossword answer key

A

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

B

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