Verb Issue S285 (Apr. 11-16, 2014)

Issue #285 – April 11 to April 16

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culture

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saskatoon

high impact wrestling On life in the ring sonic oneness Q+A with Ninjaspy draft day + jodorowsky’s dune Films reviewed­ Photo: courtesy of Ryan Walter Wagner

NEWs + Opinion

contents

up the wall Jason Holowach talks bouldering. 4 / Local wrestling life Mike Roberts on life in the ring.

6 / Local

Last call Here’s our thoughts on extending drinking hours. 8 / Editorial

On the cover:

ladyhawk

No can do? 16 / cover

comments Here’s your say about selling alcohol in corner stores. 10 / comments

Photo: courtesy of Ryan Walter Wagner

culture

Q + A with ninjaspy The search for sonic oneness. 12 / Q + A

leading ladies

a cut above Ph. 18 / Food

A comedy for the masses. 14 / Arts

+ Drink

roadside recovery

Music

Miss Quincy and the Showdown talk life on the road. 15 / Arts

Sunparlour Players, Black Sabbath + Future. 19 / music

entertainment

listings Local music listings for April 11 through April 19. 20 / listings

draft day + Jodorowsky’s Dune The latest movie reviews. 22 / Film

on the bus Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 30 / comics

Nightlife Photos

Games + Horoscopes

We visied James Lobby Bar + the Yard & Flagon.

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

24 / Nightlife

verbnews.com @verbsaskatoon facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

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ART & Production

Business & Operations

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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 / 306 979 2253

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up the wall Competitive climber Jason Holowach, and the 2014 Canadian Boulder Championship by ADAM HAWBOLDT

J

ason Holowach stands at the base of the wall, looking up and visualizing his route.

It’s the second day of the 2014 Canadian Boulder Championship at Coyote Rock Gym in Ottawa. The previous day he’d gone through qualifiers and finished second. But his body is tired and hurting — earlier today he had another difficult climb during the semi-finals.

But Holowach is ready.

Not long before he stepped up to the wall — or boulder problem #1, as he calls it — Holowach and the five other finalists took two minutes and analyzed the climb together. They examined it, talked about it, tried to figure out the best way to make the climb. To solve the problem.

“Sometimes it can help you, sometimes it can hinder you,” says Holowach, about the time spent talking things over with the other finalists.

“Obviously you know what’s best, what your body is used to. But sometimes you have more experienced climbers with you, and if they say something and you believe it, maybe that can help you out.”

For this particular problem, a really dynamic boulder-type problem,

the group had talked about jumping and grabbing onto a hold near the start, controlling their swing, then going from there.

Standing at the base of the wall, that’s what Holowach decides he is going to try to do. When he gets to

“My momentum was going,” he says, “so I just kind of threw my hand up to the next hold. It was grippy enough and it stayed. To be honest, it kind of surprised me.”

But the surprise is short-lived. He still has the rest of the problem to solve.

After I jumped, mid-air, I felt the hold.

It felt really bad. jason holowach

that point of the course, he is going to jump off a foot hold, grab the next hand hold, be controlled, and then carry on.

Sometimes things don’t always work out according to plan.

“After I jumped, mid-air, I felt the hold. It felt really bad,” says Holowach.

“My right hand landed on it, and started slipping. My left hand landed on it, started slipping too.”

Holowach’s body starts swinging all over the place, and he begins sliding. With time quickly running out to decide what to do, he spots another hold within reach, and in that split second decides to go for it. It’s either that or fall.

And solve it he does, which leaves him tied for first place.

There are only three more courses to climb, three more problems to solve.

Talk to any serious, competitive climber and they’ll tell you climbing is addictive. There’s no one reason as to why this is, but the best theory runs as follows: humans are problem solving creatures. We like figuring things out.

So when we solve problems, our brains give us rewards. Brief little hits of dopamine that makes us feel better. And since climbing is a serious problemsolving sport, the better you get, the more hits of dopamine that come.

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Holowach knows this.

The first time he climbed a wall he was 12 years old. It was at a birthday party at Vic’s Vertical Walls. He instantly fell in love with the sport.

Fast forward 13 years — past the national title he won in 2005, past the regional titles he’s won, past him blossoming into one of the most consistent performers on the scene — and these days Holowach is running the Grip It Indoor Rock Climbing gym in Saskatoon. That’s where he teaches people to climb. Where, after hours, he trains without distraction.

And his training regime may not be what you think. “A lot of my training has moved away from climbing, from getting lots of miles,” says Holowach. “I know my body understands the movements it has to make. So now I mostly focus on strength and conditioning. I do a lot of hangboard, or what some call fingerboard. That’s where you’re just hanging from your fingertips, either with weights or without, for durations that will help you build your strength and endurance in your arms and hands.”

He also does things like box jumps and other plyometric exercises that work the muscles in his legs.

He does all this to stay competitive. And it’s that competitive streak that has led him to the 2014 Canadian Boulder Championship.

five finalists move onto problem #2.

They examine it, talk about it. Then it’s go time.

But things don’t go well for Holowach here. As a group, the finalists figure out the best sequence to use to attack the wall. He takes the group’s advice, but it doesn’t work.

After blowing the first few attempts, Holowach goes with his gut and tries a different sequence. It doesn’t work, either.

And while he failed to complete his second climb, things aren’t looking too bad for Holowach. Only one competitor, B.C.’s Sean McColl, completed the first two climbs. So heading into problem #3 — a highly technical, low-angled route — Holowach sits tied for second.

He nails the climb on his first try.

McColl doesn’t finish.

Heading into the fourth and final climb of the competition, Holowach knows he’s tied with McColl for top spot. But this last climb is going to be tricky. “It was a very, very difficult route,” says Holowach. “There was a bonus hold in the middle of the route.

But even to get there there were six or seven really powerful, really dy-

namic moves you had to do on a roof that was pretty much flat, horizontal to the floor.”

Holowach tries and tries, but no matter how hard he climbs he can’t solve the wall, can’t make it to that bonus hold.

McColl is the only one who makes it, earning him the title. Holowach finishes second. But finishing second isn’t necessarily a bad thing. See, since McColl is in the IFSC (International Federation of Sport Climbing) he doesn’t compete in Canadian events all that often, and he just came to Ottawa for the Boulder Championship.

As a result, Holowach’s second place finish, along with a strong season, lands him the overall Canadian championship.

“It was great,” says Holowach, about the competition. “It went really well. There were some difficult climbs, but yeah, it was just great.”

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After finishing the first boulder problem, Holowach and the other

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wrestling life Mike Roberts and High Impact Wrestling by ADAM HAWBOLDT

W

hen Mike Roberts was 19 years old, he met a guy by the name of Crusher Carlsen.

He didn’t know who Carlsen was at that point, all he knew was that Carlsen was large, a great big guy who stood about 6’3” and weighed around 400 pounds.

The two got to chatting, and eventually Carlsen asked Roberts if he’d ever thought about getting into pro-wrestling.

Sure, Roberts had thought about it. As a child he’d grown up watching Stampede Wrestling on television with his grandpa. He had all the WWF toys and magazines. He had watched the WWF religiously, and had seen all the WrestleManias. So yeah, he’d thought about it. But not seriously.

Before their conversation ended, Carlsen gave Roberts a card with a number on it, and told Roberts to give him a call if he ever wanted to wrestle.

Roberts didn’t call.

But then, as luck would have it, not long after his encounter with Carlsen Roberts ran into another professional wrestler. Her name was Cathie Cougar.

“She was one of the few female wrestlers in Saskatchewan,” says Roberts. “We got talking about wrestling and she dragged me down to the High Impact Wrestling training academy [in Regina.]”

It was there that Robert’s lifelong love of wrestling shifted from

something that was a passing fancy to something that was tangible and serious and painful.

“When I first went to the training facility they had me practicing bumps, taking the falls,” says Robert. “After the first day I thought I’d be okay. As the days went on, though, my body started to turn on me and I was getting big knots in my back. I was bruising. It felt like my lung was collapsing.”

For the next two or three weeks Roberts sat at home, wondering if wrestling was for him. Would it be worth all the pain and bumps and bruises? He was on the fence when along came Cathie Cougar again.

They had a talk and she tried to coax him into giving professional wrestling another shot.

And again Roberts followed Cathie Cougar back to the training facility.

This time he stuck with it. He fought through the pain and his body began getting used to the pounding. Eventually he’d earned his stripes and was ready to compete.

“When I first started out, they didn’t let me pick my name,” remembers Roberts. “They gave me the moniker Manny Montoya.

I was Latino, and for some reason I was some sort of militant. Hair dyed black, wearing all camo.”

That was 13 years ago.

These days Roberts is still wrestling, but he’s taken on more responsibility within HIW.

And his name is no longer Manny Montoya.

In 1999 a wrestler by the name of Charley Pichette opened a pro-wrestling training school in Regina. A training school that would periodically host live events under the banner of World High Impact Pro-Wrestling — or WHIP Wrestling for short.

Slowly the fan base grew, the organization began hosting monthly events, and in the mid-2000s changed its name to High Impact Wrestling Canada. HIW had a run of success in the late-2000s. It signed a television deal with Access 7 in 2010 and expanded its shows to other places in the province.

Things were going well, but then something happened. “A few years ago, the owner [Charley Pichette] started losing interest,” says Roberts.

“He’d gotten sour to a lot of the politics that goes on around a business like this and he let the company slide a bit.

I’d been around wrestling for 13 years at that point, and I was very loyal to the HIW product. So when I saw the company starting to take a nose dive, I decided to make an offer and buy it.”

At the end of 2012, Roberts’ offer was accepted and he became the owner/promoter of HIW Canada.

“When I took over, it was an underground, indie organization,” says Roberts. “What I’ve been trying to do is bring it back to the foreground.”

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One of Roberts’ first orders of business was to expand the company to include several new Saskatchewan centres. He also created HIW Wildside — an HIW affiliate organization with younger, up-and-coming wrestlers.

But as he’d soon learn, being a wrestler and running a company involved a lot of work. “Just running HIW is a full-time job,” he says. “Booking venues, getting promo material together, all that kind of stuff. There’s a very involved business side to it. A lot of people don’t see that.”

There are also story lines to be created for his stable of 30-plus wrestlers. “I try to have story lines written months and months in advance.

Things change,” says Roberts, “so you

Kind of like the one Robert’s persona Manny Montoya went through.

Changing names and taking on a new persona is nothing new in pro wrestling. Very few people remember that Triple-H was once a blue-blood from Connecticut called Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Or that Kane was once a deranged doctor named Isaac Yankem.

Same goes for Mike Roberts.

Very few people these days remember him as Manny Montoya.

He’s better known as three-time HIW heavyweight champ Big Daddy Kash.

Or as his current persona — King Kash.

“After paying my dues for a couple of years, I had an idea for a character

You live with so many bruises and aches and pains it becomes natural.

Mike Roberts

have to really be creative and be interesting or people won’t be interested in your stories.”

You also have to be open to letting characters evolve, to transforming a heel into a hero, to embrace name and identity changes over the years.

named Big Daddy Kash,” says Roberts.

“The idea was he was a Las Vegas player. It started out there, then it just kind of evolved. I started growing a beard and started bleaching my hair blond. The crowd took to it because I just kind of looked like this rough party

guy. Then Big Daddy Kash became that — long-bearded, long-haired, biker, partier, fighter.”

That character continued to evolve, and after the last time Roberts won the heavyweight title he changed his name to King Kash, a character that began as a heel but these days is a hero.

And while his HIW persona continues to evolve, Roberts knows he doesn’t have too many years left in the ring. “You live with so many bruises and aches and pains it becomes natural,” says Roberts. “You don’t even notice that part of it anymore. The more severe ones, obviously, they pile up over time. My knees will probably go out on me in a couple of years. My back is pretty rough. I have bone chips in my elbows … Unless it’s real severe, you just live with it.”

So for now that’s what Roberts does. He lives with it. He lives with the pain. He lives with the responsibility of restoring HIW to its former glory … and then some. But most of all, he lives a life that his childhood self — the one who used to sit with his grandpa and watch Stampede Wrestling — would find impressive.

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last call for alcohol Bars should be able to serve alcohol as late as they want

R

emember back in February when Canada played Sweden in the men’s Olympic hockey final? Remember how some Saskatchewan bars received special permission to open at 5:30am to serve booze to the Canadian hockey faithful?

Of course you remember all that. It was a great and shining day.

And do you remember all the turmoil, all the violence and mayhem that occurred when the bars were allowed to open that early?

Of course you don’t. Why? Because in the cities from coast to coast that allowed their bars to open early for the gold-medal game, the people who went out drinking at such an ungodly hour were well-behaved.

Which got us thinking — why can’t bars stay open later than 2am more often than once in a blue moon?

It’s time to do as larger urban centres do, and extend last call. It’s good for the economy, and can even help cut down on unsavoury behaviour.

And we’re not the only ones who saw how successful the extended hours were during the Olympic gold medal game and thought ‘why aren’t we doing this all the time?’ In Alberta, two cabinet ministers — Thomas Lukaszuk and Jonathan Denis — tweeted about the possibility of extending last call after the incident-free goldmedal game. And now the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission says its reviewing the liquor laws.

In Montreal, mayor Denis Coderre says he wants to extend last call in certain areas of the city.

And in Toronto, last call is a serious issue in the mayoral race. Rob Ford isn’t a fan, but candidate David Soknacki has pledged to push a later last call through council.

Saskatoon is a vibrant city that’s growing, and we should definitely be considering the move, too. And it’s not like this is a novel idea. In Alaska closing time is 5am. In Chicago and New York it’s 4am. Heck, in cities like Tokyo, Paris, and more there’s no set closing time at all. The bars stay open until the owners decide they close.

Which is why we think the last call at our drinking establishments should be left up to the owners. Imagine a city in which bars closed whenever they felt like it, imagine the benefits — both economically and socially.

On the economic side of things, it’s simple math. More hours would mean bars would have to hire more people, which means more jobs. What’s more, longer hours would also mean more money for local businesses, because patrons would be spending more cash at these establishments.

Apart from the economic benefits, though, there are social benefits to extending last call, including safety. One of the primary concerns heard from detractors is that giving people more time to get drunk will lead to greater unruliness. And to an extent you can see where they’re coming from: every

night at 2am, intoxicated adults pour into the streets, vying for cabs, food, you name it. Inevitably, less than savoury behaviour ensues.

But did you know that extending drinking hours can alleviate this?

The Centre for Problem-Oriented Policing currently lists “Relaxing or staggering bar closing times” as one of their recommended solutions to reducing assaults.

And it works. In 2005 the British government got rid of closing times altogether. Initial reactions were negative, with 67 percent of respondents in a BBC survey predicting that there would be a rise in public mayhem and binge drinking. Alas, this didn’t happen. Seeing as patrons were no longer being evicted en masse, they trickled out in smaller numbers — all of which left police officers with far more manageable groups to deal with.

So it’s time we relaxed our liquor laws and got in line with other, larger cities. Let’s abolish last call and turn the decision of when to close over to bar owners.

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 providing alcohol in corner stores. Here's what you had to say:

– I find it irresponsible for liquor to be sold in cornerstores. That’s Somewhere I went as A kid to buy candy and rent movies , I definatly wouldn’t want to take my child in there providing there is possibly drunken fools wandering about .

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r B 8372

– Kids go to corner stores a lot so maybe it wouldn’t be good to sell alcohol out in the open but maybe if there was a separate place where you have to be of age to get into it, then I think this could be a good idea. It would be convenient and it would bring in more business for the stores.

– If you can sell smokes you can sell booze.

– I have kids and I think alcohol in the corner store is a good thing.

I think if it’s done properly it won’t be drunk people staggering around it’s not like that in European cities where you can get booze anywhere. I think having a more direct experience with responsible people enjoying alcohol will make it better for the kids in the long run. Just my two cents.

that can’t even get itself around to allowing strippers and booze in the same place (or just barely allowing it) wishful thinking. Would be nice but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

– Going to sev at 3 in the morning to get booze means they are going to have to hire more security and train their staff better it’s already kind of crazy around there with drunk people buying food and stuff imagine if they can have more booze it would have to be monitored really closely.

– You want to have alcohol sold in convenience stores in a province

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– I would love to be able to run to the corner store to get a bottle of wine when I need it, rather than driving over to a cold beer and wine or way out of the way to the liquor store.

Convenience would be great!

– Saskatoon’s alcohol availability/ consumption is already out of control. Why would we want to make alcohol even more available? Truth Is Power-Try It

OFF TOPIC – Lorne Molleken did a lot of good for this province and it’s a shame people just focus on losing the Mem Cup. He made the tough decisions.

Easy to be an armchair critic when you don’t have to be the ones making the calls. I think he did the best he could even though I didn’t agree with a lot of the moves he made.

In response to “Fare thee well, Lorne Molleken.” Local, #284 (April 4, 2014)

SOUND OFF – I’m not sure what you meant about the Bible being sexist. A little more explanation on your part might help me to understand.

concerned about who our friends are? Skin colour does not keep kids from making friends. Yet, when we grow up, we are taught that there are differences. The only difference is the attitudes people form. If we embraced other races and accepted each other, things could be better for humanity.

– Why does it seem like drivers always want to race? Have they never heard of the phrase “slower traffic keep right”?

– 1. To the person who says we need 1 day without shopping we used to have that. Used to be you couldn’t shop on sunday. 2. Our busses aren’t that bad I’ve taken the bus in many different cities and ours are pretty good .

– I thought the girls I work with were grown up. Like really, stop gossiping about everyone and take a good look at yourself. You think I got attitude because I have an opinion. I haven’t even begun to have attitude girl....

– The question on everyones mind this week... Is it time to put away my parka and big boots?

– How do we go from tiny little kids in awe of the world and not

– It might be time to take a beat and check your ego. Not everything is about you, so don’t take things personally. Believe the good that is out there and love yourself.

– Cool, back to freezing right away I love how crappy the weather is this year oh wait it’s every year.

– I have lost two hubcaps in a week. I know everyone says this but the potholes are the worst.

Can’t wait til there fixed

but bikers also need to know the proper moves. I think this could help people out a lot

– Can’t wait until this summer and the city comes alive, patios open drinkin in the sun hanging out by the river. Saskatoon might not be the most beautiful during the winter but it sure is great at this time of the year!

– I think people would be better served if they took a second and thought about how their words/actions could hurt others around them.

– Almost B Marleys bday gonna celebrate 420 with ya!

– Free hugs are fine but why can’t there be a free ill take your test for you booth man you’d make some good $$

– Deep fried ice cream is that or could that be a thing? Saskatchewan needs crazy country fairs like they have in the states, with huge rides and the most ridiculous food that gets deep fried

asking the wrong questions. Think about it.

– I would like to send out a huge thank you to all the volunteers at the animal shelter who work with the animals there. They were kind and wonderful and do so much for all the creatures that need a hand.

Thank you!!!

Next week: What do you think about extending last call in bars? 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

– Why you can’t get through to others is maybe because you’re

– Peace n luv all u need

– Happy belated chip day everyone!

– Drivers and cyclists alike need to take a defensive driving course it can be hard in a car to know if a driver is going to be erratic or what the proper moves for him are

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Photos: courtesy of Cat Ashbee

Three brothers and the search for sonic oneness by Alex J MacPherson

S

ometimes a band name is just a band name. A distinguishing mark, a brand seared onto album covers.

For Joel, Adam, and Tim Parent, however, it is more than just a name: it is the key to understanding how they think about music.

The three brothers from Port Coquitlam, B.C. have been playing music together for almost fifteen years. In 2006, they formed Nin-

ability to float between pummelling, technical metal and summery, upbeat ska and back again in a single song. Put another way, the Parent brothers are interested in exploring musical ideas that work and abandoning those that don’t, with no regard for rules or convention. And the result is often a harmony of rhythm, a sympathy of sound. This is reflected on 2013’s No Kata, which was inspired by

jaspy, a metal band that dispensed with the arbitrary rules and meaningless divisions that shape how so much popular music is made.

Blending hardcore and metal, the music they grew up listening to, with elements of reggae, ska, and drum and bass, the three brothers honed in on a sound that is entirely their own. Their 2007 debut, πature, pronounced “pi nature,” was an able demonstration of their

Joel Parent’s martial arts study, both in Vancouver and in Japan.

The EP is a conscious attempt to fuse the band’s musical identity with something even broader — the idea that good music is good music, regardless of its shape or form. It is also a summation of the band’s name, which Parent says captures the early ninjas’ ability to make the most of what they happened to have. “We have to get

really, really creative with how we segue between styles,” he says.

“Just take everything we have and make it work.” Last month, I caught up with the eldest Parent brother to learn more about Ninjaspy and what it all means Alex J MacPherson: Your last EP, No Kata, was released almost a year ago.

How was it inspired by your martial arts experience?

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Joel Parent: Basically, No Kata was meant to be a piece of music that really tied all the elements of martial arts and music and dancing and what we do stylistically as a band together.

No Kata actually means forms, and so Ninjaspy No Kata is Ninjaspy’s forms, a form being a series of movements. A kata is like something you would do in martial arts, where you do a series of movements. So at the end of No Kata you have five kata which are from the martial art that I study. They’re the elemental kata. And the music at the end of No Kata is actually written to express both the movements and the energies of the actual kata. You can actually do those kata to the music.

AJM: Was integrating music and martial arts always the main idea driving the band?

why did you do that? But we have a lot of fun doing it. And I also found that mixing most of the genres that we mix, there are so many rhythmic similarities between reggae, drum and bass, ska, surf, hardcore, and metal.

It’s like, these make perfect sense together, and they absolutely should go together.

AJM: It seems like tying a bunch of disparate ideas together is really central both to the way you think about music, and the band’s identity.

JP: For our music, absolutely. It’s about tying it all into one thing that makes sense. And from my experience in martial arts, everything is tied together by the oneness with your surroundings. This is getting a little bit out there, maybe, but the oneness in martial arts is basically when you get into this headspace when you’re practicing

JP: Indeed. If you want to make a really, really good recording, you’ve got to pay the right people the right amount of money to do a good job.

We’ve been so lucky to record with Garth Richardson and Ben Caplan for both of our last projects. We want to keep that same level of great sound quality, and we don’t have the overheard to afford that, so crowdfunding to us seemed like a really good way.

AJM: How about the music itself? It’s been almost seven years since your last full-length, πature, came out. What have you been working on lately?

taking the rhythmic roots of those riffs and laying them over really spacey dub reggae. That seems to be kind of the way we’re going now — still within the same vein, that reggae-surfmetal, but taking it in a new direction that’s got lots of cool guitar effects and octave guitar distortion and lots of single-note riffs, really technical stuff.

That’s the thing we’ve been working on here lately.

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JP: Yeah. We’re getting a lot into taking really technical, syncopated odd time signature heavy riffs, and then

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

We just got together and played whatever … we definitely crossed a few lines. joel parent

JP: At first, definitely not. But it quickly evolved into being a basis for what we do. But quite soon after we named the band, after I delved more and more into what “ninja” was actually all about, I found that all of the philosophies involved with studying the martial art rang true with what I was into and believing in at the time — getting into straightedge hardcore and stuff like that. And then the more I dug, the more I found the discipline — the martial arts, the movements — fit so well with rhythm and music and dancing, and now it’s definitely taken on more and more and more of an infused role with our music.

AJM: That idea of infusion and integration also applies in terms of the music itself, with your fusion of everything from ska and reggae to hardcore and metal.

JP: Absolutely. We’ve never wanted to be one kind of band. We just got together and played whatever we happened to be into at the time, and we definitely crossed a few lines.

Which disgusts some people. Like,

where you’re completely connected to everything around you.

AJM: Obviously being in a band with people who are both bandmates and brothers can create tension. What’s your songwriting process like?

JP: The way we act around each other hasn’t changed much, or the way we approach one another. Our songwriting approach has certainly changed. When we started playing music together, Tim was eleven, Adam was thirteen, and I was fifteen. When we started, I wrote everything — I wrote the drum parts, I wrote the bass parts, and we were all just learning our instruments. Now, of course, it’s fifteen years later and we all have a lot to bring to the table. We can all sing, we can all write melodies, we can all write lots of different styles. So the writing process has changed. There’s a lot of input, there’s a lot of back-and-forth, and sometimes there’s a lot of arguing.

AJM: Which brings us to the new record.

You’re crowd-funding it, right?

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leading ladies Ken Ludwig’s ferociously funny farce breathes new life into one of the oldest ideas in comedy by Alex J MacPherson he idea of a man dressing up as a woman for some nefarious purpose is one of the oldest tropes in comedy. It has been used countless times and subjected to countless minor twists. Yet it endures. According to Johnna Wright, a theatre artist from Vancouver who is directing Persephone Theatre’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladies, the idea works because it is fundamentally funny. But, she cautions, it must be used appropriately. Such is the case with Ludwig’s play, a charming and funny farce that follows two impecunious actors on an increasingly desperate quest to resurrect their lives and careers.

“You’re laughing because you know them and you like them,” she says. “You have to be onboard with these two guys, and want them to be successful. It wouldn’t work if they just walked on at the beginning dressed as women. It has to be in the context of a story that we care about.” Set in 1958, Leading Ladies follows Jack (Kirk Smith) and Leo (Robert Moloney), a pair of actors who have been reduced to performing Shakespeare pastiches on the gloomy rural theatre circuit.

When the pair hear about a rickety widow (Sharon Bakker) in York, Pennsylvania, whose fortune is set to pass to a pair of long-lost nephews, they concoct an elaborate scheme. And then, predictably, it goes badly wrong.

Jack and Leo learn that the long-lost nephews are in fact long-lost nieces.

But instead of abandoning their plan, they decide to disguise themselves as women and fleece their elderly mark anyway. Trouble begins in earnest when the duo reach York, where Meg (Stephanie Moroz), a charming young theatre-lover, is engaged to a blustery and supercilious minister (John Murphy) who deems theatre people

these two people come from outside, and everything just sort of explodes.

The next thing they know, they’re doing a production of Twelfth Night.”

The upshot is that Leading Ladies unfolds into something more than just a riotous farce. Although it is packed with unusual romances, unexpected friendships, and some truly staggering misunderstandings, Leading Ladies is ultimately a play about people. “Even though there’s a silliness to the whole thing, [Ludwig] has created characters that you can care about,” Wright says.

“There are a lot of farces out there.

There are people who write dozens and dozens and dozens of them. But

You’re laughing because you know [these characters] and you like them. johnna Wright

too flamboyant for his taste.“We have a very sweet but retiring young woman who isn’t really getting the most out of life in a very quiet and conservative little town,” Wright explains. “And then

the characters aren’t real. The ones that stick with us are the ones where we believe what’s happening, and care about it.” The reason Jack and Leo and Meg and the others are so appealing

is because they are fundamentally changed by the events of the play.

This is important because good farces are not about funny situations or funny circumstances; they are about real people who are unintentionally funny and whose lives unfold in unintentionally funny ways. Even though Leading Ladies is ostensibly about a devious plan to deceive and rob a kindly old lady, the characters quickly transcend their criminal intentions. “Certainly they are perpetrating this fraud, but it’s not really about the fraud,” Wright says. “To me, it’s all about the way they decide they are going to do this production of Twelfth Night and everybody becomes excited about that, and it kind of brings them together and brightens things up and opens up their lives a bit.”

Leading Ladies April 23 - May 11 @ Persephone Theatre Ticket info @ persephonetheatre.org Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

Photo: courtesy of persephone theatre

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roadside recovery

Photo: courtesy of jodie ponto

Miss Quincy & The Showdown transform two years of hard touring into ten raucous rock songs by Alex J MacPherson

A

fter two years of nonstop touring, Jodie Peck needed a break. Peck, who performs as Miss Quincy, is a veteran of late nights in dank bars and long days in cramped, fetid vans. But over the last twenty-four months, she and her band, the Showdown, outdid themselves.

“We toured all around Canada, all around Europe,” Peck says with a laugh, sounding not at all like a hardscrabble road warrior. “We’ve played shows everywhere, from living rooms to every kind of dirty bar to festivals. And I think that really shaped the direction of the album and the music we’re playing.” This is a reference to her latest record, Roadside Recovery, which was released earlier this month and condenses two years of hard touring into ten hard-hitting songs.

Roadside Recovery is Peck’s third album under the name Miss Quincy and her first with the Showdown.

The band cut the record under the supervision of Matt Rogers, who plays in the Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer.

It was a natural fit for Peck, who has known Rogers for years and admires his commitment to stripped-down, no-frills rock and roll. “We wanted this record to sound like we sound live,” she says. “When you play that many shows, you start to see what works and what you enjoy playing and what seems to translate to an

audience.” Then she laughs and describes it as “more of a refinement, if you can call this record a refinement.”

Leaner and more focused than its predecessors, Roadside Recovery does away with everything that could plausibly be considered excess. From the one-two gut-punch of “Bad Love” and “What Is Life If It Ain’t Strange” to the measured, mellow blues of “Damn You” and the sinewy rasp of “Wild F**king West,” Roadside Recovery feels like an inventory of life on the road — an endless cycle of exhilarating nights and bleary mornings. Each song on the album reflects some aspect of the touring life, positive or profoundly negative, which is all Peck has known for two long years.

“It becomes all you know, it becomes your entire reality, and you write what you know, what you’re living,” she says, hinting at the lovehate relationship that characterizes so many musicians’ relationship with touring. “This album was written at a time when all I knew and all I was experiencing was life on the road in a rock and roll band.” After a pause she laughs and adds, “It’s a very authentic record.” Although Peck is unwilling to divulge details, it’s clear that many of the songs on the album were inspired by the wild events that inevitably accompany raucous late-night bar shows. Or, in the case of “Rush Hour Traffic With A Hangover,” the aftermath.

Roadside Recovery is also a catalogue of the many guitar players who have influenced Peck’s skeletal approach to thrashing out riffs on her battered Gibson clone. “There’s certain skillful guitar players that I think are so amazing, but I don’t necessarily have that amazing skill set,” she says. “But I do know what I like sonically.” Peck’s guitar-playing is infused with traces of George Thorogood, Bo Diddley, and Pete Townshend. And, of course, Keith Richards, whose influence shines through in the form of Peck’s commitment to memorable riffs and the unmistakable crunch of a 1957 Fender Champ amplifier. Ultimately, Roadside Recovery highlights Peck’s commitment to crafting guitar riffs that favour feeling above form. Like her voice, her guitar-playing is scrappy, ragged, messy. Which is what she thinks rock and roll should be.

“Rock and roll is really a collective experience,” she says. “If I was going to play rock and roll I wasn’t going to sit there in a bedroom and write about what I thought rock and roll meant.

It’s about what it is. It’s about how you live it … It’s not about sitting at home in your comfort zone.” But Roadside Recovery is more than just a collection of punchy riffs and grimy, overdriven solos. It is also a demonstration of how Peck has grown as a songwriter. Just as her guitar-playing is charmingly minimalistic, so too are her lyrics. “That was my intention, to make a rock and roll

album with a collection of songs that really have a specific vibe and tone to them,” she says.

Most musicians’ careers follow a predictable cycle. Songs get written, albums get recorded, and shows get played. Peck is playing a number of shows in support of Roadside Recovery. But she doesn’t want to spend another year or two cooped up in a van, at least not right away. “I don’t feel like I’ve been on the road too long,” she says. “It’s just that sometimes, when you’ve been touring for a long time, your life becomes this

series of gigs and driving to gigs, and everything else in life can get lost.

Sometimes you need a little roadside recovery, you need to recover from it a bit.” And now, she’s earned it.

Miss Quincy & the Showdown April 18 @ Vangelis Tickets at the door Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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no can do?

Photo: courtesy of Ryan Walter Wagner

After ten years on the road, Ladyhawk refuse to call it quits

C

areers in the music industry tend to follow one of a few predictable patterns. Some bands, through a mystical alchemy of talent, timing, and luck, are catapulted to fame overnight. Others find success more slowly, by releasing strong records and touring exhaustively. Ladyhawk, a rock band from Vancouver, B.C., followed the latter course. But it is not an easy path, and after ten years the inevitable life changes and diversions made it more and

more difficult for the band to keep being a band.

In 2004, Duffy Driediger, Darcy Hancock, Sean Hawryluk, and Ryan Peters were the best of friends. They worked together and they ate together and they played music together. And, in 2006, they released their first album together, a collection of deeply earnest rock songs titled Ladyhawk.

Containing too many pop influences to be called a straightforward rock album and too many long guitar solos and breakdowns to be labeled a pop

by Alex J MacPherson

record, Ladyhawk established the band in Canada and in the United States as purveyors of honest, distinctive, upbeat guitar music.

The band released two more records in 2007 and 2008, an EP titled Fight For Anarchy and a full-length called Shots. Both records continued the trend established by Ladyhawk: moments of darkly introspective reflection punctuated by what Pitchfork termed “Paul Bunyan-big, capital-R rock moments, with solos and crashing cymbals and howled vocals.” And then

life started to get in the way.

After touring in support of Shots, the four musicians made plans to record a third full-length album. Shortly after the sessions began, however, the band effectively broke up. It would be almost three years before the four men reunited. No Can Do, which was released in 2012, emerged as an extended meditation on what it means to be in a rock band and not be twentysix anymore.

No Can Do is a catalogue of uncertainty wrapped in the guise of a pop-rock record. On the title track, frontman Duffy Driediger moans: “No one taught me how to play / I had to go and find it out the hard way.” On “You Read My Mind,” he frames the end of his twenties as an existential crisis, or at least an emotional one: “You read my mind, the party’s over / So you best

relentless, overdriven rhythm guitar parts, the songs on No Can Do are short — of the ten tracks, only three run past three minutes — and more clearly pop-influenced than those on Ladyhawk or Shots. And the album’s arrival, uncertain to begin with, seemed to herald a more sweeping change for the band. Instead of embarking on a long tour, Ladyhawk played just a few shows in support of the record. Then the band went into hibernation.

But No Can Do, which at times can feel like a eulogy for four musicians burned-out after a decade of living like musicians, was not the end. This year, Ladyhawk decided to dust off its guitars and drums and head out on another tour — a celebration of ten years spent making music that matters. Billed as the “Decade of Passive Aggression” tour, the band’s latest

I think everyone feels pretty lucky that we have fans, and for every opportunity that we’ve been given over the years. darcy hancock

get in line with all the others / ‘Cause they ain’t going nowhere.”

From a musical perspective, No Can Do marks a significant change for the band. Gone are the soaring solos and the extended guitar breakdowns.

Driven by a few piercing riffs and

string of shows is far from its most ambitious tour. But it is also proof that Ladyhawk refuses to die. Guitarist Darcy Hancock isn’t entirely sure what has kept the band going for so long. But he doesn’t want to stop, or even think about it, really.

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Alex J MacPherson: I understand you haven’t been writing music or even playing together much lately. Is that right?

Darcy Hancock: No, not really. We never really know how much longer we’re going to do it, you know? It’s fun every time we do it, but life pulls you in other directions. I mean, personally, I would tour constantly. But not everybody in the band wants to do that. When we finished touring the last record there just wasn’t a chance to do anything else for it, which was a bummer — we only did thirteen shows or something.

AJM: Yet you decided to do another tour to celebrate ten years of making music. What do you think has kept this band going for a decade, even with some extended breaks?

DH: Maybe I won’t let it die. I don’t know. I mean, it’s very easy not to do anything, in all aspects of life I suppose. But I’ve always tried to remain motivated with this because it’s really rewarding … and we are all friends.

It’s just that we don’t always hang out or create all the time. It’s just that every time it’s been awhile I get an itch and request that the band do something, you know?

AJM: At the same time, that’s got to be true for the other guys — something keeps them coming back again and again.

DH: The band is rewarding, you know? I think everyone feels pretty lucky that we have fans, and for every

opportunity that we’ve been given over the years. We eventually got tired but I think everyone actually has a lot of energy to play right now. Rehearsals have been going well. I feel like every time we play, even though there’s so much space in between, we get better somehow.

AJM: Did the thought of ten years of Ladyhawk get you to take some time to think about the band’s history and catalogue? How do you think the band has changed over that time?

DH: Kind of. At one point I wanted to write a piece about it, but I never really got around to it. When we started we were like a gang. We were inseparable. We did everything together. We worked five days a week together at the same warehouse, and then we’d go home for an hour, have dinner, and go jam or go out. We were inseparable. I guess when you get in your thirties it’s a little bit harder to live that way, for some reason.

AJM: What about musically? How would you characterize the band’s growth between Ladyhawk and No Can Do — and beyond?

DH: We’re better at playing together, and I guess we’re better musicians because we hear things differently now.

But it’s hard to really explain. At least, I’ve always found it hard. Our band, we never tried to be anything, you know? It wasn’t a conscious sound we were going for. It’s what happens when we play. So even when we record and we’re like, let’s try and make this song sound like this sonically, it still

sounds like our band. Obviously on the last album the songs are very short pop songs. We used to jam a lot more, drag songs out. It’s a hard question to answer.

AJM: I think new bands face an awful lot of pressure to conform, or to be something identifiable. When you guys first started, did that come into play?

DH: We just didn’t think about it.

Duffy had a solo show booked and had a handful of songs. Three days before the show, he asked us if we’d back him on half of them. It was fun so we kept going. We weren’t like, let’s start a band. The band started and we were like, I guess we need a name. One thing about reviews we never understood is how people will often say, they were trying to go for this, but they didn’t succeed or whatever. Do other bands try to go for things? I don’t understand what they’re talking about.

AJM: At the same time, I think it’s pretty clear that No Can Do marked a big change. The songs are shorter, more pop-influenced, and at the same time they tend to explore this end-of-yourtwenties malaise. Is that just a reflection of where you were when you made it?

DH: Yeah. We did basically break up before recording that album. We started recording some of it in 2009, and then stopped talking. I think it was maybe [a friend] in Calgary that asked us to play a show. I was like, let’s just play a few and try and record some more songs. But yeah, obviously, Duffy’s life was different as the lyricwriter and the songwriter, so yeah,

confronting the changes in life. But life keeps changing. I’d be curious to see what he writes about next.

AJM: Does the fact that you’re touring again mean that you’re also thinking about making another record?

AJM: How about in terms of the music?

DH: I see no reason why not. We still get along, we’re still all creative.

The challenge is finding the money to record records, but that can be done. And there’s nothing else that I’m good at in life. Everyone has put more work into this craft than anything else in their life. To push it away seems ridiculous to me.

DH: During the first two albums we listened to tons of classic rock, very much rock-based music. Speaking for myself, my favourite music of all time is Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, New Order — pop music that doesn’t have guitar solos. Guitar solos are fun. But I think we just stopped liking that kind of thing. We didn’t want to drag things out. There’s still a lot of energy to the music but we restrained ourselves from going wild. We just focused on the pop song, I guess. And that was alright: the songs weren’t long, so there wasn’t really room and there didn’t seem to be a point to add these solo sections or jam out.

Ladyhawk April 25 @ Amigos Cantina $15 @ ticketedge.ca Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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Photo: courtesy of adam hawboldt

There’s a new steak place in town

Cut serves up excellent food in a cool atmosphere by adam hawboldt

I

t’s 2pm on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. I’m sitting in Cut, a new steakhouse downtown, perusing the menu.

And man, it looks good!

Appetizers like lobster tots and ginger snapped crab cakes jump out at me, as do mains like apple-stuffed pork chops with cider reduction and

rant is clean, sharp and modern, with a black and white, very minimalist palette. There’s a martini bar to the left of the door where you walk in, with brown tables, blue padded chairs, and bottles of wine lined vertically on the wall behind the bar.

And then there’s the downstairs lounge. The new lounge is called 1/2-Cut (which you have to admit is a terrific and clever name for a drinking establishment), and this is where you see the biggest changes. With an increase in tables, 1/2 Cut can accommodate way more patrons. There are booths strategically situated around the room, with interesting pictures hanging on the wall above. A cool black-and-white steering wheel and televisions dot the room. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, 1/2-Cut looks to be a great place to kick back, hang with friends and have yourself a cocktail.

It’s also a great place to eat. Not only can you order from the entire Cut menu and have it served down there, 1/2-Cut also has a menu of its

maple-glazed trout. Then there’s the steak: New York strip loin, strip loin brick, beef tenderloin, pepper crusted prime rib — you name it.

And it isn’t just the menu that looks good. Located where Tusq and Staqatto used to be, Cut underwent some serious renovations before opening two weeks ago. The upstairs restau-

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide GRAPEFRUIT MIMOSA

Ingredients

Ever have one of those nights?

The kind of night you wake up from and think, “Man, the only thing that’s gonna cure this hangover is some hair of the dog that bit me.” Well, if you ever get to that point, consider whipping up some grapefruit mimosas.

1 750ml bottle of Prosecco, chilled 3 cups of fresh grapefruit juice, chilled sweetener or simple syrup

Directions

Put the chilled Prosecco and grapefruit juice in a large pitcher. Gently stir in the sweetener to taste. Serve and enjoy.

own. And since it’s not yet five o’clock (which is when the Cut menu becomes available), I go with something off the 1/2-Cut menu. Well, to be exact, I go with three things .

First: the Tatonka poutine, which consists of bison, rustic fries, cheese curds and maple gravy. For $10, this is a whole lot of poutine, and it’s amazing. The gravy is kind of sweet and full of flavour, while the fries (in and of themselves) are terrific.

Next: crispy steak bites served with horseradish aioli and smoked ketchup.

Delicious by themselves, these steak bites really come alive when dipped in either sauce (or both at the same time).

Finally: rubbed ribs. These are big and meaty and crunchy. And the smoked bbq dipping sauce

they’re served with is ridiculously good. It’s light and savoury, and after the ribs were gone I found myself dipping my fork in the sauce and eating it alone.

After washing all that down with a couple glasses of red wine, my mind was made up. I’m returning to Cut soon, after 5pm, and getting myself the pepper-crusted prime rib.

It looks mouthwatering.

Cut Casual Steak and Tap 416 21st Street East | (306) 954 4222 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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music

Next Week

coming up

sunparlour players

black sabbath

future

@ Amigos cantina Friday, april 18 – $TBD

@ credit union centre friday, april 18 – $39.25+

@ O’Brians event centre monday, july 7 – $35+

Barns, backyards, bars, theatres … the Sunparlour Players have rocked them all. Based out of Ontario, this alt/folk rock band consists of Andrew Penner (lead vocals, guitar, bass, banjo, bass organ pedals, percussion, kick drum) and Michael “Rosie” Rosenthal (drums, glockenspiel, banjo, back-up vocals, keyboards and bass). Together they have a sound that is fresh and unique, as anyone who listens to their album, Us Little Devils, will tell you. Without a doubt the most realized, mature album the Players have released, Us Little Devils sees the band expand their sound, and embrace electronic and pop influences. The Sunparlour Players will be rolling into town in time for the long weekend. Tickets will be available at the door.

Quick question: do you know what Black Sabbath was called before they were Black Sabbath? This is a tricky one. Take your time. Give up? Here you go: the band — which consisted of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward — used to be called Earth, and played a brand of heavy blues rock music.

That was in 1968. Soon, though, they began incorporating occult themes in their music, singing horrorinspired lyrics, and tuning down their guitars. And in the following year they became Black Sabbath. Although Ward is currently estranged from the group, the band will still be putting on one hell of a show at the Credit Union Centre next weekend.

Don’t miss it. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Sometimes all you need is a little support from your family. It can be your mother or father, brother or sister.

For Nayvadius Cash, aka Future, that support came from his cousin Rico Wade — a trailblazing producer who worked with the likes of Outkast and TLC. Back when Future was getting started his cousin told him to keep working on his writing skills while pursuing his dream. Future stuck with it, released a couple of mixtapes between 2010 and 2011, then released his first studio album in 2012. It was called Pluto and it spawned a host of singles that charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Future has now recorded a second album, Honest, which comes out later this month. He’ll be stopping in Saskatoon this summer; tickets at obrianseventcentre.ca.

– By Adam Hawboldt

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

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april 11 » april 19 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

S

M

T

W

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11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Friday 11

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover The Shoeless Joes / Amigos — With The Bad Decisions. 10pm / Cover TBD

Marion Mendelson / The Bassment — Feel like taking in some smooth jazz stylings? 4:30pm / No cover The F-Holes / The Bassment — A Winnipeg band play blues and more. 9pm / $17/$23 Flashback Fridays / Béily’s — The best of the 80’s, 90’s & top 40 hits of today. 9pm / $5 cover Romi Mayes and Jay Nowicki / Bon Temps Cafe — A local duo doing their thing.

9pm / No cover Kashmir / Buds — A tribute to Led Zeppelin. 9pm / Cover TBD BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/ vocal house music. 10pm / $5 DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy electronic beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no

better country rock party around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm JoMama / Piggy’s — Come out for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover Allyson Reigh / Prairie Ink — Acoustic folk music. 8pm / No cover Band Wars X / Rock Bottom — Battle of the bands is back. 9pm / Cover TBD VIP Fridays / Tequila — Come tear it up on the dance floor. 9pm / Cover TBD

Saturday 12

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Classy Chassys / Amigos — With Gunner & Smith and more. 10pm / Cover TBD Omer Klein / The Bassment — An Israelborn piano virtuoso. 8pm / $20/$25 DJ Aash Money + DJ Sugar Daddy / Béily’s — These two DJs throw down a dance party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

Kashmir / Buds — A tribute to Led Zeppelin. 9pm / Cover TBD Kelly Read / Bugsy’s — Talented local musicians playing some tunes. 9pm / No cover 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 Dr. J / James Lobby Bar — Spinning funk, soul, latin and jazz. 9pm / No cover DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music. 8pm / $4 cover Collective Soul / O’Brians Event Centre — Good ol’ rock and roll from Georgia. 7pm / SOLD OUT DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 JoMama / Piggy’s — Come out for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover

Wires ‘n’ Wood / Prairie Ink — Local trio playing latin, jazz and gypsy music. 8pm / No cover DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD Mikey Dubz Farewell Party / Tequila — Featuring Mikey Dubz, Mern, Kidalgo + more. 9pm / Cover TBD Fire & Fury / TCU Place — Featuring Kelly-Marie Murphy’s From the Drum Comes a Thundering Beat.

Fortunate Isles / Vangelis — With Hunger Hush and Silent Sea. 10pm / Cover TBD

Sunday 13

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 Classical Variety Night / Grosvenor Park United Church — Talented local musicians performing music they love.

7:30pm / Admission by donation DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover R5 / O’Brians Event Centre — A youthful five-piece with a Cali vibe. 6pm / $47.50 (ticketmaster.ca) Sunday Night Jam / Stan’s Place — Bring an instrument and join in the fun.

8:30pm / No cover Blues Jam / Vangelis Tavern — The Vangelis Sunday Jam is an institution, offering great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm / No cover

Monday 14

BJ Harris Quartet / Bon Temps — A local jazz/pop four-piece. 7pm / No cover DJ Audio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD The Dillinger Escape Plan / Louis’ Pub — With Trash Talk, Retox and Shining.

6:30pm / $23.25 (ticketmaster.ca)

Tuesday 15

Jimmy Rankin / Broadway Theatre — A dynamic solo performer from Cape Breton. 7:30pm / $27 Eddie Robertson / Buds on Broadway — Fast Eddie plays the blues. 9pm / 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. 9:30pm / $4 cover Continued on next page »

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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 — Spinning karaoke tunes. 9:30pm / No cover

Wednesday 16

DJ Modus / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Spinning all your favourite tracks. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter Salsa Night / Béily’s UltraLounge — Latin music and salsa dance lessons. 8:30pm / Cover TBD Eddie Robertson / Buds on Broadway — Fast Eddie plays the blues. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Memo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Buck Wild Wednesdays / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Come out and ride the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff DJ Carlos / Stan’s Place — Spinning karaoke tunes. 9:30pm / No cover

Thursday 17

Girls Rock Camp Benefit Show / Amigos — Covers by lady-powered local bands.

10pm / Cover TBD

Piano Thursdays / The Bassment — Featuring Fred Ballantyne. 4:30pm / No cover Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys / The Bassment — Roots music from PEI. 9pm / $17/$23 Penny Reign / Bud’s on Broadway — Hard-hitting power pop. 9pm / Cover TBD Kelly Read / Finn’s — A night of rocking tunes. 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 April Wine / O’Brians Event Centre — Good ol’ Canadian rockers. 7pm / $39.50+ (tickets.obrianseventcentre.ca) The Pony Boys / Piggy’s — Come out for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover DJ Carlos / Stan’s Place — Spinning karaoke tunes. 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 18

House DJs / 6Twelve — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover Sunparlour Players / Amigos — Fortunate Ones. 10pm / Cover TBD Flashback Fridays / Béily’s — The best of the 80’s, 90’s & more. 9pm / $5 cover

Noah Pred / Birth Rhythms — Deep, techno, house. 9pm / $10+ Penny Reign / Buds on Broadway — Hardhitting power pop. 9pm / Cover TBD Black Sabbath / Credit Union Centre — Ozzy and his crew hit Saskatoon. 8pm / $39.25+ (ticketmaster.ca) 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 Beenie Man / O’Brians Event Centre — With Wizdom Family + others. 9pm / $30 (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; ladies in free before 11pm Ninjaspy / Rock Bottom — On their Jump Ya Bones Tour. 9pm / Cover TBD VIP Fridays / Tequila — Come tear it up on the dance floor. 9pm / Cover TBD Miss Quincy and the Showdown / Vangelis — All-girl gritty blues and rock band from B.C. 10pm. Cover TBD

down a dance party every Saturday night.

9pm / $5 cover Johnny Don’t / Buds on Broadway — A talented local pop-rock 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 Dr. J / James Lobby Bar — Spinning funk, soul, latin and jazz. 9pm / No cover Countdown to 420 / Le Relais — With Ed Solo, Kitkat + more. 9pm / $20+ DJ Goodtimes / Longbranch — Playing the hottest country music all night. 8pm / $4 cover April Wine / O’Brians Event Centre — Good ol’ Canadian rockers. 7pm / $39.50+ (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 New Jacobin Club / Rock Bottom 0 With Violent Betty, Hell Hounds. 9pm / Cover TBD 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

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

Saturday 19

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Adolyne / Amigos Cantina — With Anoin and Basement Paintings. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Aash Money + DJ Sugar Daddy / Béily’s UltraLounge — These two DJs throw

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what he does best Photo: Courtesy of summit entertainment / lionsgate

Costner wades back into the world of sports film and makes a big splash. by adam hawboldt

I

have talked about Kevin Costner in these pages before. Talked about the man-crush I have on him and about how he seems to suck up the air around him with a screen presence all his own.

What I didn’t talk about is how good he is in sports movies. Like,

Draft Day shows you 24 hours inside the world of Cleveland Browns’ general manager Sonny Weaver Jr. (Costner). And what a hectic 24 hours they are!

Not only does Sonny have to deal with family issues (his mom has been recently widowed) and issues of the heart — his salary cap expert Ali (Jennifer Garner) is his lover and his future baby momma — but he also has to deal with all the intricate and not-so-intricate issues an NFL general manager must face on draft day. Sonny is under orders from the team’s owner, Harvey Molina (played by the always excellent Frank Langella), to “make a splash” at this year’s draft.

And what a splash he makes!

Without giving away too many details, let’s just say that some of the moves Sonny makes during the 2014 draft are the kind of moves that would get a general manager fired — on the spot.

So how does it all end for Sonny?

Well, you’ll have to watch and find out.

Bull Durham and elevated the film to cult status. This is Ray Kinsella who, in Field of Dreams, built it and they came. This is Roy McAvoy, the guy who taught us all how to go down in flames with class in Tin Cup. This is what Kevin Costner does best — sports movies. And now he’s back with a new film called Draft Day.

Kevin Costner [does] most of the heavy lifting in the film which … means half the battle is already won.

Adam Hawboldt

hellfire hot-damn good. Like, the best of all time. Seriously. Name a better sports-movie actor and I’ll come to your house and do your laundry for a month. No jokes.

This is Crash Davis we’re talking about here, folks. The guy who took

How is it? Well, let’s just say it’s pretty good. It’s no Bull Durham (then again, what is?), but it’s a whole lot better than Costner’s last sports flick, For the Love of the Game.

Directed by Ivan Reitman (of Ghostbusters and Stripes fame),

And while a movie about the inner workings of an NFL football team on draft day may not be overly appealing to a great many people, somehow Reitman manages to make the film engaging throughout. He uses a “24”-esque ticking clock to build tension, he transitions seamlessly from the front office to locker rooms to practice fields to personal calls and beyond. He also has Kevin Costner do most of the heavy lifting in the film which, as we established earlier, means half the battle is already won.

That said, Draft Day is far from perfect. Some of the subplots aren’t really necessary and at times it can feel like one long, glamorous product placement for the NFL.

draft day Ivan Reitman Starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Frank Langella + Dennis Leary Directed by

110 minutes | PG

Still, Draft Day is a solid, entertaining and at times very funny sports movie. One that you’ll enjoy — whether you’re a hardcore football fan or not.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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oh, what could have been

Jodorowsky’s Dune introduces you to the greatest movie never made by adam hawboldt

I

t was the greatest movie that never was.

Or at least that’s what you’re led to believe in Frank Pavich’s new documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune.

And you know what? After watching this doc it’s hard to disagree. Sure, Terry Gillam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote would have been seven shades of awesome. But the Dune film — based (very loosely) on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece of the same name — that Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky set out to make in the mid-’70s would’ve been a hellfire screamer with an off-beat, innovative pulse all its own.

Don’t believe me? Stop and think about this for a second. Jodorowsky’s team consisted of Dan O’Bannon, Chris Foss, Jean Giraud and H.R. Griger — four of the people responsible for the look and feel of 1979’s Alien. Jodorowsky had convinced Orson Welles,

Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

to be taken, I wanted to fabricate the drug’s effects. This picture was going to change the public perceptions.”

He says this, and you believe him.

To say that Jodorowsky’s ambition for Dune was tremendous is an understatement. He wanted to change the young minds of the world, and to bring about a new god, an artistic, cinemato-

[Jodorowsky] wanted to change the young minds of the world, and to bring about a new god…

Adam Hawboldt

Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger to act in the film. He had Pink Floyd on board to play music, just one of the many mid-’70s prog-rock bands he intended to use to compose the film’s score.

Oh, and Jodorowky was a lunatic genius who sought to make something bigger and more outrageous than anything that’d ever been on the silver screen before. At one point in the film, while being interviewed, Jodorowsky says to the camera, “I wanted to do a movie that would give the people who took LSD at that time the hallucinations that you get with that drug, but without the hallucinating. I did not want LSD

graphic god that would bring about a new perspective.

Alas, for reasons you’ll learn in the documentary, the movie never got made. And still it was influential.

The sword fights in Star Wars, the opening shot of Contact, the cyborg POV in The Terminator — none of these, experts argue, would have been possible if not for the massive Dune storyboard that was circulated through studios in the ‘70s.

Whether all this is true, you’ll have to decide for yourself. But what is true is this: the sprawling, whacky, state-of-the-art space opus that

jadorowsky’s dune Frank Pavich Starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, H.R. Giger + Chris Foss Directed by

85 minutes | NR

Jodorowsky envisioned would’ve changed the game if his vision had come to fruition. Kind of like Star Wars did years later.

Problem is, sometimes the film directors envision in their minds and the film that ends up on screen are two very, very different creatures.

And there’s no guarantee, in the pre-CGI era of movie making, that Jodorowky could have brought his Dune to life.

But who cares? The documentary that Pavich made about the film is fascinating for cinephiles and non-cinephiles alike. It’s a story about obsession, about genius and about art. It’s also the story of bats**t lunacy and a man with a dream that never came true.

Jodorowsky’s Dune is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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saturday, april 5 @

James lobby bar

James Lobby Bar 620 Spadina Crescent East (306) 244 6446

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These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Thursday, April 17. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

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Photography by opalsnaps.com Continued on next page Âť

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Tuesday, April 8 @

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The Yard & Flagon 718 Broadway Ave (306) 653 8883

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comics

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

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crossword canadian criss-cross 27. Type of West Indies music 29. Argumentative 32. Map within a map 36. Eggs 37. Places for needles 39. Horse food 40. Trims a tree 42. Increases 43. Eating utensil 44. Trash that is left laying where it doesn’t belong 46. Piece of pasta 48. Up to 49. Late 50. Quarry 51. Tina of “30 Rock”

1. Combination of words 2. Gives a hand to 3. Roman numeral for 500 4. Winter apple 5. Constellation between Scorpius and Pavo 6. Go out with 7. It’s in potatoes 8. 200 milligrams 9. German wife 11. Happen as a consequence 12. Table parts 14. Minor 17. CFL trophy 20. Point a finger at 21. Upbeat, in music

24. Card with a heart on it 26. Unit of weight 28. Communion service 29. Number of votes recorded 30. Egg-shaped 31. Portable computer 33. Poorly made 34. Soon after the start 35. Small boy 38. Common contraction 41. Use a spoon 43. Warning heard on a golf course 45. Compass heading 47. Lout

A

B

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

1. Bottom of a paw 4. Rolls of paper money 8. Fire department head 10. Very angry 12. Place to store food 13. Swimming 15. Periods of time 16. Show one’s years 18. Irish language 19. Pedal next to the brake 20. Fluid-filled sac that acts to protect against friction 22. Shuffleboard stick 23. Take what doesn’t belong to you 25. Made of baked clay

© walter D. Feener 2014

sudoku answer key

DOWN

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

ACROSS

Horoscopes April 11 – April 16 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

Have you gained a modicum of clarity these past few weeks, Aries? Seen the bigger picture? If so, be prepared for it to dwindle.

It’s time to change things up, Leo. It’s time to be more active, so start trying to live healthier — you’ll benefit in the long run.

At some point this week you may find yourself feeling wary of a situation, Sagittarius. Trust your gut instinct.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

If you’ve been feeling a tad offkilter lately, Taurus, there’s good news: you’ll regain your equilibrium this week.

Brace yourself for what’s ahead, Virgo. This is going to be one of those weeks where you should stay home, alone, with the blinds closed.

It’s high time you take matters into your own hands and get things done, Capricorn. It’s important to rely on yourself for some things.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

To find the answers that you’re looking for, Gemini, it’s paramount that you being by looking within yourself.

It’s time for some introspection.

Irritation could be lurking around any corner this week, Libra. Try not to let it surprise you or get the better of you.

Questions, questions, questions — you’ll have a lot of them this week, Aquarius. Remember to be patient, though — there’ll be very few answers.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

This is not a week for some deep meditation, Cancer. Instead, get yourself out into the world and make use of your energy.

Don’t be afraid to air your grievances this week, Scorpio. Remember, if you keep that stuff bottled up, it can be destructive.

The worst thing you could do this week is have a lack of confidence in yourself, Pisces. That will get you nowhere.

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

crossword answer key

A

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

B

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