1058: Klondykes

FREE (gold rush)

#1058 / feb 4, 2016 – feb 10, 2016 vueweekly.com

Press’d expands its sandwich empire 6 Geoff Berner’s klezmer-punk helps deal with the world at large 24

SHAPING THE IMAGE OF ALBERTA February 8 to May 23

Lawren Harris. Tumbling Glacier, Berg Lake. 1929. Private Collection.

Borealis Gallery Legislative Assembly Visitor Centre Edmonton Federal Building 9820 – 107 Street

assembly.ab.ca 2 UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

ISSUE: 1058 FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016 COVER PHOTO: IAN JACKSON, EPIC PHOTOGRAPHY

LISTINGS

ARTS / 14 MUSIC / 31 EVENTS / 33 CLASSIFIED / 34 ADULT / 36

FRONT

4

How does a building become historically designated in Edmonton? // 5

DISH

6

Press'd has expanded to a dozen locations in five years // 6

ARTS

9

Guys in Disguise strides into the great north with Klondykes // 9

POP

15

is proud to partner with many of Edmonton’s arts, culture and music organizations. Check out these sponsored events coming up in the near future.

Happy Harbor's artist-in-residence role benefits the artist and public alike // 15

Walterdale Theatre presents: Boeing Boeing

by Marc Camoletti Feb 3–13

U of A Studio Theatre presents: A Mid Summer Night’s Dream Feb 4–13

Disturbed with Saint Asonia & Age of Days at Shaw Conference Centre Feb 20

Arden Theatre Professional Series: Lennie Gallant Feb 25

Arden Theatre Professional Series: The Hearts & The Provincial Archive Feb 26

Arden Theatre Professional Series: Alejandra Ribera Feb 27

FILM

19

45 Years a near-perfect look at a lifelong love destabilized by a body // 19

MUSIC

24

Geoff Berner returns with an album of ways to cope with the world at large // 24

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FOUNDING EDITOR / PUBLISHER.................................................................................................................RON GARTH PRESIDENT ROBERT W DOULL......................................................................................................................rwdoull@vueweekly.com VICE PRESIDENT - SALES DEVELOPMENT RON DRILLEN .................................................................................................................................rdrillen@vueweekly.com OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR VALERIE GROSS ............................................................................................................................. valerie@vueweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR / MUSIC EDITOR MEAGHAN BAXTER .................................................................................................................meaghan@vueweekly.com ARTS / FILM / POP EDITOR PAUL BLINOV ........................................................................................................................................paul@vueweekly.com NEWS & DISH EDITOR MEL PRIESTLEY ....................................................................................................................................mel@vueweekly.com POSTVUE / FEATURES WRITER & SNOW ZONE EDITOR JASMINE SALAZAR...................................................................................................................... jasmine@vueweekly.com LISTINGS HEATHER SKINNER....................................................................................................................... listings@vueweekly.com PRODUCTION MANAGER CHARLIE BIDDISCOMBE .............................................................................................................charlie@vueweekly.com PRODUCTION JESSICA HONG..................................................................................................................................jessica@vueweekly.com MARKETING MANAGER ANDY COOKSON ...............................................................................................................................andy@vueweekly.com SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER JOANNE LAYH ..................................................................................................................................joanne@vueweekly.com ACCOUNT MANAGER JAMES JARVIS ....................................................................................................................................james@vueweekly.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE DPS MEDIA .......................................................................................416.413.9291....................dbradley@dpsmedia.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER MICHAEL GARTH .........................................................................................................................michael@vueweekly.com

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DISTRIBUTION Terry Anderson, Shane Bennett, Jason Dublanko, John Fagan Aaron Getz, Amy Olliffe, Beverley Phillips, Justin Shaw, Choi Chung Shui, Sean Stephens, Wally Yanish

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Arden Theatre Professional Series: Juan De Marcos & The Afro-Cuban All-Stars Mar 18

Horizon Stage Up Close & Personal: Grim and Fisher

by WONDERHEADS Mar 10

Arden Theatre Cinema Series: The Royal Ballet – Romeo & Juliet Mar 20 UP FRONT 3

POLITICALINTERFERENCE

FRONT

news EDITOR: mel priestley MEL@vueweekly.com

Ricardo Acuña // ricardo@vueweekly.com

Contextualizing the royalty review Why the new royalty framework should not have been a surprise The outcome of the province's royalty review, made public by Premier Rachel Notley at a Calgary press conference on January 29, should serve as a strong reminder to Albertans of the problems that arise when you put all of your economic eggs in the same basket.

The review was carried out by a four-member panel over five months and culminated in a 209-page report whose recommendations the government decided to adopt in full.

The new royalty framework makes some significant and important changes in terms of transparency and accountability for how the government calculates and collects royalties from industry, and implements some valuable changes to how costs and royalties are calculated and applied to conventional oil, gas and gas liquids.

Aside from those changes, however, the government ultimately decided to leave the existing royalty rates and structures untouched.

For the province's oil-and-gas industry, and for the political right, that de-

cision on the part of the government came as a relief and something of a validation that they had been right all along. For the province's left, and their allies in the labour movement and other activist circles, the new framework came as a disappointment and something of a betrayal. The one consistent reaction across the board, however, was surprise. A party that had spent 20 years in opposition arguing forcefully that Albertans were not getting their fair share of revenue from their natural resources, and made royalties a key part of the platform that got it elected, had now essentially said that it was wrong and the previous government had it right all along.

A brief look at Alberta's recent political and economic history, however, suggests that surprise should have been the last thing anybody experienced. This is a province where, according to Statistics Canada and Alberta Innovation, one industry is directly responsible for one-quarter

VUEPOINT

kate black kate@vueweekly.com

Action after talk On January 27, social media was awash with the hashtag #BellLetsTalk. The campaign needs little introduction and, while its merits are debatable, it agitates an issue worthy of deeper conversation: we need to start doing more than merely asking people living with mental illness to talk about their experiences.

While awareness-raising initiatives are valid, they may mislead us to believe that tweeting about a pervasive social issue is enough to dismantle it.

Talking to someone about your mental illness is incredibly therapeutic and often alleviates the pain of feeling like you're suffering alone. What doesn't get spoken about as much, though, is what comes after "talking to someone"—whether that's confiding in a friend or a healthcare professional or "coming out" with a mental illness on Twitter. The aftermath can be hard: finding a therapist, changing therapists, getting time off work or cancelling plans with a friend because you're too anxious to leave the house. These tough moments require support and understanding from those around you, and something more important than talking: listening—and listening when it might not be convenient to do so.

This is absolutely not to suggest that we should discourage spaces to talk about our mental illnesses. Rather, the real work of promoting mental wellness comes in taking on the responsibility to reach out to people we care about and challenge systems that create unhealthy environments. The University of Alberta, for example, funds a free a "Community Helpers" program to equip staff and students to better support their peers' well-being.

Even Bell's television ads depicting more supportive ways to talk about mental illness in the workplace have the right idea.

We need to think about where we'll be when the "talk" is over. The work that's most important is difficult, but worth it, and something that can't be accomplished in a day—or with a hashtag. V

4 up front

to one-third of our GDP; where, in any given year, Alberta budget documents show that 20 to 40 percent of government revenues are generated by the same industry; and where Statistics Canada Labour Market reports show that 15 to 20 percent of the province's workers derive their paycheques either directly or indirectly from that industry. That kind of economic power is inevitably accompanied by a disproportionate amount of political power. That level of political power, as Ed Stelmach learned in 2011, can actually take down a sitting premier, manufacture a new party and leader out of thin air, and fundamentally alter the political playing field in the province.

That level of power also holds significant sway within the hearts and minds of Albertans. Everybody in Alberta knows someone who derives his or her livelihood from the oil-and-gas industry. If those people are told often enough—by their bosses, the mainstream media and the angry right—

DYERSTRAIGHT

that a certain government policy will put that livelihood in jeopardy, it will not take them long to rally behind the cause and push back against the government. This will especially be the case in a context where these folks are already feeling vulnerable as a result of international market conditions.

This is the political context that Notley and her government were up against, and this is why their decision to hold the line on royalties should not have come as a surprise to anyone.

When your ability to make policy and retain government is so influenced by powerful forces beyond your immediate control, the status quo becomes an overwhelmingly appealing option.

While the election of a New Democrat government on May 5 may have brought a different set of ideals and values into government, the political and economic power structures that have been established and entrenched over the last 25 years have not changed. Changing those struc-

tures will require political will and a concerted effort over time. It will require a fundamental transformation of our tax structures to remove the dependence on oil-and-gas revenues.

It will require a concerted move to diversify the economy to reduce the share of GDP that the oil-and-gas industry occupies. And it will require a well-organized and vocal effort from the left to shift the public discourse and break the current association that Albertans currently have between their own personal interests and those of the private interests of the industry.

Until those things happen, this government will continue to be limited in terms of its ability to implement significant and sustainable change in the public interest, regardless of what it may have been elected to do. V Ricardo Acuña is the executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan, public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.

GWYNNE DYER // GWYNNE@vueweekly.com

Goodbye Schengen

The suspension of the Schengen Agreement was driven by refugee shopping "Europe has forgotten that history is fundamentally tragic," said Manuel Valls, the French prime minister. "If Europe can't protect its own borders, it's the very idea of Europe that could be thrown into doubt. It could disappear—not Europe itself, not our values, but the European project, the concept we have of Europe, that the founding fathers had of Europe."

The European Union—28 countries and 500 million people—is not really going to disappear just because it cannot agree on how to deal with one or two million refugees. But one of the great symbols of its unity, the Schengen Agreement—which allowed its citizens to move around without passports or border checks—is being suspended, perhaps forever.

Schengen doesn't cover every single EU country. The United Kingdom and Ireland remain outside the Schengen Area, and Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus, all new EU members, are still waiting to join. Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are part of the area, although they are not EU members. But it does include over 400 million people.

It is a remarkable achievement. You could get into your car in Portugal and drive all the way to Finland via Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia without ever once having to show a passport or identity card. There would not even be anybody in uniform standing at the frontier to wave you past, just a sign by the side of the road saying "Welcome to (Country X)."

Or rather, that was the situation until last month, when Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Austria re-imposed passport checks at their borders, ports and airports, even for travellers arriving from other Schengen Area countries.

France acted even earlier, declaring emergency controls on its borders after the terrorist massacre in Paris in November. So now fully

half of the EU's citizens (counting the UK and Ireland) live behind real borders again.

The new border controls are alleged to be temporary measures, which the Schengen Agreement permits for a maximum of six months in the face of some unspecified emergency. But the refugee emergency is not going to fade away by July, and the threat of terrorism will persist for the foreseeable future.

That's why the European Commission is now examining how the legal framework of Schengen can be fiddled to allow a further two years of controls on the EU's internal borders.

Nobody doubts that they will find a way to do that—but a great many people doubt that the passport-free zone, once suspended for that long, will ever come back.

This is happening not because Germans fear French travellers or Swedes fear Danes. It's happening because none of them believe that the external borders of the Schengen Area are properly controlled.

Even in freezing January weather, 35 000 refugees entered the EU last month, and it looks set to be another million-refugee year.

And two of the men who carried out the Paris attacks crossed from Turkey to Greece (a Schengen member) as refugees. You can't call that a secure external frontier.

The three countries that took in 90 percent of last year's refugees, Germany, Austria and Sweden, have all blamed Greece for letting so many refugees in and failing to document them properly. "Greece has one of the biggest navies in Europe," said the Austrian interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner. "It's a myth that the Greek-Turkish border cannot be protected."

The Greeks quite reasonably ask what their big navy is supposed to do. Sink the refugee

VUEWEEKLY.com | feb 4 – feb 10, 2016

boats? As for the failure to register all the refugees properly, they point out that at peak flow last autumn more than 10 000 were arriving each day. They didn't have enough officials and equipment to cope with such numbers: 40 fingerprint machines running non-stop around the clock can only deal with about 4000 people a day.

There is even talk of suspending Greece from the Schengen Agreement for two years, but a better solution would be to give it the people and resources needed to document everybody who comes in—and to turn back those who have no right to enter.

It's not just a question of screening out possible terrorists, although that must be done better if confidence in Schengen is to be restored. In practice, Greece (or EU officials operating in Greece) would also have to decide at the border who is really a genuine refugee they are obliged to admit, and who should be returned immediately to Turkey.

The brutal truth is that most of the people crossing from Turkey into Greece, including the Syrians and Afghans who come from wartorn countries, are "asylum-shoppers." They were already safe in Turkey, which is sheltering almost two million Syrian refugees and spending billions of dollars a year on them.

But life in the camps in Turkey is hard, so they are moving on to seek asylum in richer countries with better facilities.

There is no obligation for Europe to take them all, and the Schengen Treaty will die if it does. But the European Union itself will soldier on without it, at least until and unless the Euro currency collapses when the next recession hits. V Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

FRONT // HERITAGE

Won't somebody think of the cladding?

How a building becomes historically designated in Edmonton

M

ay its time-worn brick cladding never crumble: the Hulbert Block on Whyte Avenue—the three-storey building that includes Block 1912, a few fronts down from the Princess Theatre—was awarded official designation as a Municipal Historic Resource last week, giving the more-than-a-century-old building

legal protection from demolition or severe alterations without approval by city council.

It's also the sort of building—located in an iconic historical neighbourhood, no less—you would've thought already had such a designation. But, obvious age and historic location aside, the process of officially designating a building as a

historic resource—laid out in the Alberta Historical Resources Act and the city’s Historic Resource Management Plan—is somewhat involved. It isn't that the Hulbert Block had somehow just escaped notice until now; quite the opposite.

"The Hulbert Block has been on the list since 1993," explains Scott Ashe, one of the city's principle heritage planners. "It was one of the first buildings identified."

The list Ashe refers to is the city’s running, dynamic tally of buildings that would qualify for historical designation based on historical, architectural and/ or cultural significance. Presently it includes some 800 buildings, as scouted out by the city's periodic inventories of historic resources—or, occasionally, by a property owner who comes to the city with the intention of adding their building to the list. Either way, once a building has been brought to the city's attention, a historic resource review panel examines its merits.

"They look at criteria like age, integrity, [and] are architectural elements still there in relation to a building? Architectural style," Ashe says. "They'll also look at things like [if there] were any significant individuals associated with the building."

In the Hulbert Block's case, there were multiple reasons for designation: it is representative of Edwardian-era architecture, which is rare to see in Edmonton (beyond the Whyte Avenue area).

It also carries cultural relevance—con-

nection to the early development of Strathcona in its pre-Edmonton days— and its builder and owner, R A Hulbert, was a prominent member of the community.

Once a building makes the list, proceeding with designation depends largely on the whims of property developers. In Alberta, there are a limited number of steps that city planners can take without the approval of the current owner of the building: if they don't agree, that's as far as it goes.

The city encourages voluntary designation—there are financial incentives available to support the rehabilitation of the buildings—but the decision ultimately rests with the owner.

"We have to compensate the property owner for any lost economic value that arises from the designation of the building," Ashe explains.

"If a property is zoned to allow for a higher-use; if it's zoned to allow for an apartment building, and it currently has a two-storey residence on it, the property owner is giving up significant development potential."

The threat of demolition can also speed things along: if owners of any building already on the city's list apply for demolition, a dialogue is started to see if other solutions might be feasible. But simply being on the list doesn't offer any of the legal protections that official designation does.

It was a shift in ownership that suddenly opened up the Hulbert Block

for designation: a new property owner purchased the building last year, someone who had worked with the city on other designation projects. ("They really saw value in the heritage of the property," Ashe says.)

If a property owner agrees to pursue designation, the official process begins. It takes about six months: an application is presented, the scope of rehabilitation work assessed, incentives determined, a notice of intention presented, a 60-day cool-off period waited through—"[During which] the property owner can potentially change their mind, though that usually doesn't happen once they've elected to proceed," Ashe notes—and then it goes to council, who officially pass the designation.

It doesn't always work out: that list of eligible buildings is constantly being updated with both additions and removals as buildings are saved or destroyed. Sometimes the location's greater value to the owner wins out over its historical relevance, Ashe explains, but that doesn't prevent the city from trying.

"We've had a number of successes, but that's always a challenge that we face, when we have a property that's zoned to allow for a higher use," he says. "Obviously, there's a lot of consideration that has to go into that on the part of the property owner. Those are harder ones to win. "

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // FERTILITY

Cervical mucous and body positivity

The Fertility Awareness Charting Circle teaches a different understanding of the menstrual cycle

U

sing glue sticks, lotions and lubricants, a community of women in Edmonton is proving there's more to the menstrual cycle than what was discussed in junior high health classes.

Nestled around a table of eight women, Chloe Skerlak stretches a stream of lubricant between her index finger and thumb. Similar to the colour, consistency and sensation of personal lubricant, "peak cervical mucous" (that is, cervical mucous observed near ovulation when a woman is most likely to get pregnant) is clear, stretchy and, well, lubricative, she explains. She uses other substances, like glue sticks and lotion, to demonstrate the regular changes in cervical mucous that occur at different times of the menstrual cycle.

Skerlak is currently studying to become a Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner (HRHP) at Justisse Healthworks for Women, an Edmontonbased fertility clinic and college. She's co-facilitating the Fertility Awareness Charting Circle of Edmonton (FACC) as part of her practicum. The FACC

meets on the first Monday of every month at Remedy Café on 109 Street, and offers a supportive space for highquality, affordable fertility-awareness education.

The Justisse Method of fertility awareness was founded by Dr Geraldine Matus in Edmonton in the '80s, as a secular, sex-positive movement that specifically acknowledges gender and sexual diversity. The method tracks three fertile signs—basal body temperature, cervical mucous and cervical position—in order to better understand all stages of the menstrual cycle, from first menstruation through to menopause. By paying attention to these signs, women can accurately determine on which days they are fertile (and on which days they are not) to achieve or avoid pregnancy. It can also be used to accurately predict the onset of your next period.

Fertility awareness can be used as a highly effective method of natural birth control by abstaining from intercourse or using alternative barrier methods on fertile days. A 2007

study published in the Human Reproduction Journal reports that with accurate use, fertility awareness is 99.6 percent effective as a method to avoid pregnancy—a rate that rivals the effectiveness of the birth control pill, but without the pill's negative side effects like intermenstrual spotting, weight gain, mood changes and nausea.

Fertility awareness isn't just for people who identify as women, either.

"We're talking about anybody with a menstrual cycle who can benefit from this," says Rose Yewchuk, an Edmonton-based HRHP who has been supporting FACC since it began in 2005.

Fertility awareness is often mistakenly assumed to be the same as the rhythm or calendar method, which uses past menstrual cycle patterns to predict future fertility.

"Fertility awareness relies on daily observations of fertile signs," Yewchuk says. She explains that when used to avoid pregnancy, the rhythm method is significantly less effective than fertility awareness, as stress, ill-

ness and travel can cause month-tomonth variations in menstrual cycle patterns.

Information on fertility awareness is becoming more available through informal Facebook groups, online forums and mobile apps that track menstrual cycle patterns. But the quality of information isn't always the best.

"A lot of apps that are out there are actually rhythm-method-based apps," Yewchuk says. "If it doesn't have you inputting fertile signs on a day-to-day basis, it's the rhythm method."

Other than a thermometer, toilet paper and an initial consultation with a trained HRHP, the costs to accurately learn and practice fertility awareness are minimal. In addition to monthly charting circles, the FACC is spreading the word through introductory workshops.

Fertility awareness is also an effective tool for understanding overall health and diagnosing hormonal imbalances—information that's avail-

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Fertility Awareness Charting Circle Remedy Café, 8631-109 Street 6:30 pm, first Monday of the month fertilityawarenesschartingcircle.org

able through regular follow-ups at monthly charting circles as well as separate individual consultations.

"There's sort of a movement underway to have the menstrual cycle recognized as the fifth vital sign of women's health," Yewchuk says. She explains that as it's connected to and influenced by many factors, the menstrual cycle is an indicator of the health of other areas of the body.

By encouraging participants to check their cervical mucous daily, FACC is also encouraging women to talk openly about and appreciate their menstrual health.

"It's inevitable," Skerlak says. "As soon as you start charting, you form a positive relationship with your body."

ASHTON JAMES

ASHTON@VUEWEEKLY.COM

UP FRONT 5

FEATURE // SANDWICHES

DISH

DISH EDITOR: MEL PRIESTLEY MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PRESS'D HAS EXPANDED TO A DOZEN LOCATIONS IN FIVE YEARS

W

hen Press'd opened its first location back in 2010 in City Centre Mall, the smell alone set it apart from other food-court options: walk through the mall in the morning and you'll catch a tantalizing whiff of freshly baked bread emanating from the space. Since then, Press'd has expanded into a full franchise operation with a dozen locations spread throughout Edmonton and smaller centres in the province, including Grande Prairie, Sherwood Park, Leduc and, most recently, Gasoline Alley in Red Deer. A handful of others are slated to open later this year in Calgary, Saskatoon and Lloydminster.

"I think people see that, OK, this is a product that really holds water and it might be this new up-and-coming trend—although sandwiches can hardly be referred to as a trend," Scott Gordon says with a chuckle.

Gordon started Press'd along with two college buddies, Gavin and Grant Fedorak.

Back then, the trio handled all the daily activities themselves, from chopping veggies to taking orders. It took some adjustment to step back from operations and begin administering the company from a corporate standpoint.

"When we started the business and we were hands-on, a lot of it was in our heads and kind of in our hearts a little bit," Gordon says. "And now it's our responsibility to communicate our ideals and our brand values to franchisees. I think that was one of the biggest challenges for us, because we actually had to think what we wanted to see out of this business and articulate it in such a way that we could get our franchisees and our staff to buy into it."

New franchisees go through a rigorous training process to learn all the techniques and recipes on the Press'd menu, which was created in collaboration with a local Edmonton chef (who asked not to be named). Every morning, a baker prepares all the bread from scratch—not just popping frozen dough in the oven like most chain sandwich joints tend to do. The veggies are purchased whole and chopped in-house in order to maintain

6 DISH

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Press'd The Sandwich Company pressdsandwiches.ca freshness; only the soups aren't made on site so as to keep prices low enough to offer lunchtime value.

Expansion raises questions about identity: can a business still be local after franchising? As far as Gordon is concerned, Press'd is still very much a local Edmonton company.

"When I think of local businesses, I think of businesses that are taking into consideration the community values as a whole, as opposed to just working for the bottom line," he says. "We're still trying to put a lot back into the communities that we work out of. If we can source local products, we do."

He explains that Press'd has partnered with KidSport, a local charity that raises money to pay entry fees for kids who can't afford to get into organized sports—a cause that aligned perfectly with Gordon and his business partners, who played basketball in school together.

While they've already lined up those Albertan franchises for 2016, Gordon notes that they've also set their sights farther out and might start researching entry into the Vancouver marketplace. He acknowledges that this is a risky gambit, given the amount of competition and significant differences between BC consumers and Albertans—but he's confident in the brand they've built.

"At the outset, we said we don't want to get into price wars with Subway or some of these value brands, because that's not why people are coming to us," he says.

"They're not coming to us because we're cheap; they're coming to us because we're not expensive, [and] they really like the food."

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VENI, VIDI, VINO

MEL PRIESTLEY // MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Updating the wine world's textbook Reviewing the new edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine If there's one book I recommend all wine enthusiasts possess—no matter their level of knowledge or interest in wine—it's the Oxford Companion to Wine (OCW).

Yes, it's an encyclopedia: bloody heavy and astonishingly comprehensive. It's also fun to read, despite what you might expect from such a weighty tome. The entries are frequently entertaining reads in their own right, their academic rigour matched by a flair for incisive wit and even humour. Much of this is no doubt due to the OCW's editor, doyenne of wine writing and one of my personal heroes, Jancis Robinson.

The fourth edition was just published in September 2015, almost a decade after the previous edition came out in 2006. (The original edition was published in 1994.) This was a much-needed update: over 60 percent of the nearly 4000 entries were revised, and 300 entries are brand new—topics that either didn't exist when the last edition was released or have since gained greater significance.

It retains the labyrinthine quality of the previous incarnations: I've never been able to pick it up, read through a single entry and put it down, because each entry comes peppered with provocative cross-references that lead you down a spiralling rabbit hole of vinous knowledge.

I couldn't possibly analyze the scope of revisions or the new entries in this short column, but below are my thoughts on a few of the OCW's new topics that piqued my interest in some way. And if it's not obvious so far, I'll state it plainly: if you have any more than a passing interest in wine, buy this book.

Even (especially!) if you've got the last edition.

Additives A few months ago I was bemused to discover that the previous edition of the OCW didn't mention a word on wine additives. The new edition (briefly) covers this topic, and offers a list of legal additives like lactic acid bacteria, sugar and ascorbic acid. There isn't anything specific on Mega Purple or other much more controversial additives. Obviously, much of this is simply due to length restrictions—but maybe they also just didn't want to go there? A cross reference to adulteration and

fraud was good for tangentially related historical context, and the new entries on ingredient labelling and natural wine help elucidate the issue a bit more.

British Columbia / Ontario / Nova Scotia / Quebec It's very encouraging to see the revision to Canada's entry in the OCW, which includes separate entries on the four key wine-producing provinces.

The pieces provide a good overview, albeit not much detail—and no maps, of course, but maybe that'll come in the next edition.

It retains the labyrinthine quality of the previous incarnations ... each entry comes peppered with provocative cross-references that lead you down a spiralling rabbit hole of vinous knowledge.

Films about wine This entry notes a few films in which wine features prominently, beginning with Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) and ending with recent documentaries (including Somm and Red Obsession).

Of course Sideways (2004) is included—there's actually a separate entry for the film that launched 1000 shipments of Pinot Noir.

Minerality Robinson herself points to this entry as indicative of how much the wine world has changed since the last OCW edition. I agree that this is an interesting read, especially to those of us who love wines that express minerality—and/or who love musing about the language of wine.

Smoke taint This is a new wine fault to me, but something I'd already been wondering about after last summer's big wildfires in the Okanagan Valley. It will be very interesting to see if the 2015 vintage displays any overt characteristics derived from the atmospheric smoke during the growing season—and if any previous wildfire-heavy years have already resulted in wines with this fault. I haven't heard of any yet, but this could be considered part of the flavour profile if it's not too predominant or off-putting. V Mel Priestley is a certified sommelier and wine writer who also blogs about wine, food and the arts at melpriestley.ca

oh, the majesty

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

DISH 7

DISH FEATURE // COMPETITION

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8 DISH

Now we're cooking with gas The High School Culinary Challenge is just like a TV cook-off —only with teenagers

F

ifty-four Alberta high school students are gearing up for the annual High School Culinary Challenge (HSCC) on February 6. It's a full-day event in which 18 schools go head-to-head in a three-course cook-off. The dishes are ranked by industry judges and the winners will be honoured at a huge awards dinner on March 7 at the Shaw Conference Centre.

Much more importantly, however, every student who enters the competition—regardless of whether or not they place—has the chance to win one of three scholarships to NAIT's culinary arts program.

"It used to be a time, you didn't do well at school, you had low grades— oh, OK: go into cooking, right?" Simon Smotkowicz says. "Today if you don't finish your Grade 12, if you don't have a good GPA, you won't even get [into] NAIT." Smotkowicz, the executive chef at the Shaw Conference Centre, is sitting behind the desk of his office in the Shaw's huge banquet kitchen.

Across from him is Sheldon Page, a second-year student in NAIT's Cook Journeyman Apprenticeship pro-

gram and a former competitor (and second-place winner) of the HSCC. As part of the program, Page spent his first year cooking at the Shaw; now he's at the Hardware Grill.

Without the chance to participate in the HSCC, Page notes that he might never have ended up on his current career path.

"I just always cooked throughout junior high and stuff like that, and then in Grade 10 I kept on just asking if we could do harder recipes, harder recipes, and they just said it wasn't available in the time period," he explains. "My teacher came up to me and said, 'Hey, do you want to do this competition?'"

The format of the HSCC hasn't changed much over its eight-year history. Smotkowicz notes that the demand goes up every year with more schools wanting to participate, but the competition is pretty much at capacity right now— they've considered making it a twoday event, but he feels that would sacrifice some of the event's quality. One thing that has changed, he notes, is the quality of each year's

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

entries and the skill level of the young chefs.

"All we wanted in the end was to entice young people to go into the culinary fields and to give [them] a better understanding of what becoming a chef is," Smotkowicz says. "But over the years what we have realized is that the teachers have also learned throughout the process. The level of competency from the actual teachers—even if they are not chefs—is much higher."

The HSCC is fairly unique across Canada, Smotkowicz notes, and indicative of Edmonton's continued culinary development—many of the participants of the HSCC, and certainly NAIT's graduates, have gone on to start some of the best kitchens across the country. It's also just a great chance for young people to flex their culinary muscles in a supportive, professional environment.

"You're going to give time to it and it's a good experience overall," Page says. "Even if you don't place, even if you just go there and cook, it's a lot of learning, a lot of great experience."

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

COVER // THEATRE

ARTS

ARTS EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Guys in Disguise strides into the great north with Klondykes

K

londike Kate is a near-mythological figure in Edmonton. For over 40 years, women dressed up in extravagant costumes as this real historical person, parading through the city to the exhibition grounds at Northlands for Klondike Days (later CapitalEx, now K-Days). What few people realize is that Klondike Kate herself once donned an elaborate disguise—in drag.

"I had always wanted to write something about Klondike Kate," Darrin Hagen says. "Partially for a reason to get to the Yukon. Partially because of the Edmonton connection. But partially because—mostly because—I found out that she actually had to dress as a boy to get up to the Gold Rush. And she became this most famous femmefatale burlesque dancer of all time."

Although Kathleen "Klondike Kate" Rockwell herself does not appear in Klondykes, Hagen and his Guys in Disguise partner Trevor Schmidt drew upon real Gold Rush history when crafting their show.

"Originally we were looking for a Fringe show for us to perform in together as we normally do," Schmidt says.

"So we're always throwing titles around," Hagen adds.

Schmidt continues: "And concepts, right? Like: 'What if we were airline hostesses? What if we did this? What if we did that?' And I said: 'We haven't done a saloon-

// Ian Jackson, EPIC Photography

hall girl, like a western or a Yukon thing. Maybe they could be saloonhall girls.' And then I said: 'We could call it Klondykes!'

"And we laughed our tits off," Hagen says.

The duo decided to venture north, following the historical path of thousands of Klondike hopefuls to learn more about women's experiences in 1890s Yukon.

"We went up there and stayed in a dumpy hotel in downtown Whitehorse. It was so much fun," Hagen recalls. "We saw lots of stuff and did lots of research and plus Nakai [Theatre] actually arranged for us to work in the theatre where the Frantic Follies is—the Klondike show that you see when you go up there for the tourists. They do like The Cremation of Sam McGee and some can-can dancing, [a] typical old beautiful vaudeville show. And the guy that ran the place, he arranged for us to actually go in there and use the piano. So we actually ended up writing three or four songs up there."

After looking through archival photographs of Klondike women, visiting museums, and developing the show at the Nakai Theatre (and narrowly missing both the summer solstice and Whitehorse Pride: 24 Hours of Gaylight), Hagen and Schmidt discovered that Klondykes had evolved into something different from their usual style.

"Right away it wasn't going into Fringe camp-comedy territory," Hagen says. "It was going in another direction right from the start. It's still got that humour that we love, but it's a different kind of show.

And we started to actually think, well, maybe it's not us."

The veteran drag performers, having just finished Flora and Fawna's Field Trip at Northern Light Theatre, didn't feel quite right inhabiting the characters they'd created. Hagen, who's hung up his high heels for good, decided along with Schmidt to cast some genuine trueto-life women (Rebecca Ann Merkley and Amanda Neufeld) as intrepid Klondykes Hattie and Loosey.

"I have to admit, I was a little reluctant to play a lesbian," Hagen says.

"And not because I don't want to, but because I know that the lesbian community is not big on the idea of men playing lesbians. And plus we were talking about one of the characters cross-dressing, so you'd have a man playing a lesbian dressing as a man. At what point do you just lose track of where the whole fucking gender thing started, right?"

Schmidt also has some worries about the show's content and how identity politics might enter into people's judgements of the performance.

"It's two gay men writing a play about lesbians," he says. "One white

woman in the show plays a Chinese man at one point. There's a lot of stuff that could potentially be contentious to a lot of people. And I dread that shit coming up ... I think that what the piece is meant to be saying is something really wonderful. And I hope that it is received that way."

"Ultimately, you treat the characters with respect and hope that people will go on that ride with you and not accuse you of cultural appropriation," Hagen agrees. "But it is an important conversation."

Originally having cast an Asian actor in a major role before another contract made them unavailable, Hagen and Schmidt have had to alter the show quite significantly.

It's be a long, arduous process to find Klondykes a stage. They had planned to première the show at the Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse.

Then as a co-production of Northern Light Theatre and Fringe Theatre Adventures. Then as a cabaret act in the Citadel's The Club. But as Schmidt points out, nothing ever came together.

"People kept coming to us and saying: 'I've heard you've got this show, Klondykes. What's going on there? I'm interested." So we'd go: "Oh, great, here it is."

"And then they'd turn us down," Hagen says.

"No, we never got turned down, that's the interesting thing,"

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Until Sun, Feb 21 (8 pm; 2 pm Sunday matinees) Klondykes The Roxy on Gateway, $24 – $30 Schmidt says. "We never got turned down. Everyone approached us, everyone wanted us, and it would always fall through."

Finally, Klondykes has found a home with Theatre Network. In its most recent form, the play consists of musical numbers strung together into a narrative.

"It's not fully a song cycle," Hagen says. "It's not fully an operetta. It's not fully a vaudeville musical. It kind of has a foot in all of those places. It's a strange hybrid ... I like to call it a live concert that tells a story. Because you pretty much go from one song right to the next."

And though each of its songs might sound wildly different and play in a new genre, they're all united by one common theme: the ruggedness of the Yukon landscape, and the fortitude of the women who had to go there to find their freedom.

"Trevor ... wove the land through all the lyrics," Hagen says. "The metaphors are mud and earth and ice and water and wind and gold and sweat.

And it's an earthy, dirty show."

BRUCE CINNAMON

BRUCE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ARTS 9

ARTS PREVUE // THEATRE

// Ed Ellis

A Midsummer Night's Dream

'I

think Shakespeare exists in this happy medium, energetically speaking, between opera and theatre," Bradley Doré says.

The actor could be talking about any one of the Bard's shows, but in this case it's that dreamlike, expansively operatic yet accessible comedy: A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Studio Theatre's upcoming production of Midsummer, directed by Marti Maraden, is set in the Regency period, sort of—Doré describes that as mainly a costume choice, and that the production takes more

of a pure approach to the text.

"I think Shakespeare lends itself to its own realm of existence," Doré says. "We're not trying to make a political statement necessarily, other than the statement of telling the political story of what it means to be in love and to have your heart on your sleeve."

Tackling the role of Lysander, Doré has had plenty of opportunity to practice that effusiveness. He's new to the role, but feels that the impulses behind Lysander's pur-

suits—to marry Hermia and find acceptance with her family—coincide with his own artistic drives.

"I see Lysander as a truth seeker, as someone who is totally in love with the world and passionate about expressing that, expressing what is true," Doré explains. "I could find those things in myself because in my own personal trajectory as an artist, that's what I'm seeking—honesty, integrity and truth, and passion.

"It's almost as if you're saying what's on your mind, whereas in

contemporary texts I feel that most people hold back what they're trying to say," he continues. "In Shakespeare, they just wear their hearts on their sleeve and they're just speaking their minds, speaking their truths, which is why I find his work so compelling and why I think so many people come back to Shakespeare. ... It is a good reminder, I think, that we have the capacity to speak our minds; that we are all capable of speaking our truth, speaking what we need to say. And that is what I think is important in

Thu, Feb 4 – Sat, Feb 13 (7:30 pm; 12:30 pm matinee on Thu, Feb 11) Directed by Marti Maraden Timms Centre for the Arts, $12–$25

playing Shakespeare, is you need to be truthful and clear about what you mean, and honest, ultimately."

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // THEATRE

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

// Ian Jackson, EPIC Photography

'H

ello, honey," Martha (Brenda Roberts) offers George (Tom Rooney) from the couch. "Come on and give your mommy a big sloppy kiss."

This is moments after telling him "you make me puke"—then say-

10 ARTS

ing it again, to make sure he heard her. Yet it's played one of the most genuinely tender moments between the two in all of the Citadel's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: a sense of sincere understanding amid all the volatile,

insult-laden dialogue. Or maybe that's the booze talking; certainly, the more insulting side of things reignites shortly after: though it's 2 am after a faculty function, Martha's invited new professor Nick (Jay Clift) and his wife Honey (Ava Jane Markus) over for an after-party, much to George's chagrin. They arrive and the booze begins—well, continues—to flow, and the verbal barrages only ramp up in intensity.

At first, Nick and Honey are off-put by the mercurial eruptions of their hosts. Then they start to get drawn in.

With a production as good as this one is, Virginia Woolf's script seems timeless: certain peripheral elements still harken back to its '60s heyday, but the heart of the matter—an aging couple presenting their lives like a parade of regrets, should-haves and didn't dos—continues to beat with vig-

orous aplomb. You can't help but stare, mouth agape, or laugh, depending on the moment. It's three hours long (two intermissions), but Woolf remains a limber, engrossing play under James MacDonald's direction and in the hands of its marquee-worthy cast, capable of both the comedy and tragedy required.

Rooney's lively, sardonic read on George finds him settling into certain resignations—still sharp, but world-weary, too. As Martha, Robins tirelessly tears across the stage.

She's a firebrand doused in booze, constantly hammering on every personal hot-button she can find, chasing every impulse without care of consequence. Clift holds some semblance of an entry-point as Nick, whose intelligence belies an eventual understanding of the relationship before him. Markus' Honey gets the least amount of stage time

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Until Sat, Feb 13 (7:30 pm; additional 1:30 pm Sunday matinees) Directed by James MacDonald Citadel Theatre, $30 – $100 but offers a welcome element of physical comedy and boisterousness whenever she's around.

You get the sense that, when it's just the two of them, Martha and George do share a sort of love, or at least understanding and agreement. It's only when there's someone else in the room—someone who each can measure the other's failures against, or embarrass them in front of—that the relationship's perpetual volatility becomes vicious. And in this particular evening of unbalance, which skillfully shifts between its comedy and tragedy, personal depths aren't so much plumbed as drawn out for others to eviscerate.

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // THEATRE

A CONCERT OF HIGHLIGHTS AND HITS (1999-2015) February 19 & 20, 2016 • Maclab Theatre Tickets 780 425 1820 • catalysttheatre.ca

// Marc J Chalifoux Photography`

Ursa Major 'T

his is an unimaginable story about completely imaginable people."

Bea (Paula Humby) and Bear (Clifford Kelly) are everyone's grandparents. They argue adorably. They wear baggy cardigans. They answer Jeopardy clues aloud to the television.

What makes Bea and Bear's story so unimaginable is that these completely imaginable people have had their lives spun into a sugary sweet confection. For its first half-hour, Ursa Major is a textbook fairy-tale romance, complete with coy banter, old-timey saloon music and twinkling fireflies hovering over the star-crossed lovers.

Although their romance is steeped in nostalgia, Humby and Kelly manage to find truth in their heavily stylized interactions.

Ursa Major's most distinctive and impressive feature is the integration of dance sequences into its main narrative. The understated movement pieces blend perfectly into the story, standing in for major life events and covering long stretches of time like montages in a movie. Ainsley Hillyard's choreography silently captures the rhythm of Bea and Bear's life together: the awkwardness of getting to know one another, learning how to synchronize with each other, becoming comfortable in a routine together and ultimately making love for the first time.

As Bea and Bear settle into life with one another, the dancing fades away,

Until Sun, Feb 7 Directed by Beth Dart ATB Financial Arts Barns, $20 – $25 Part of the Chinook Series Full schedule at chinookseries.ca

replaced by the comedy and drama of everyday life. It's only when tragedy strikes that the intense choreography returns, standing in for a car accident that leaves Bear in a vegetative state for the next 10 years.

Straying from its rose-tinted beginnings, Ursa Major digs into deep questions, like whether it's kind or cruel to let a loved one go and whether Bea is being selfless or selfish when she vows to take care of Bear for the rest of his unnaturally prolonged life. The show contrasts Bear's dramatic infirmity with the everyday tragedy of Bea growing older and losing her memory, and Humby and Kelly are both wonderful as they deteriorate before our eyes.

Although its opening chapters feel a bit twee, Ursa Major proves by the end to be an unadorned exploration of what it means to be partners for life.

BRUCE CINNAMON

BRUCE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

ARTS 11

ARTS PREVUE // THEATRE

// Steven Stefaniuk, MacEwan University

WHAT’S ON AT UALBERTA? Studio Theatre:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare Guest director Marti Maraden

Mary Mooney Distinguished Visiting Artist

The Bard’s playful ode to the transformative power of love

Feb 4 to 13 @ 7:30 pm

$5 preview Wed, Feb 3 @ 7:30 pm Opening night Thurs, Feb 4 @ 7:30 pm No show Sun, Feb 7 2 for 1 Mon, Feb 8 @ 7:30 pm Matinee Thurs, Feb 11 @ 12:30 pm Timms Centre for the Arts

ualberta.ca/artshows

12 ARTS

Curtains V

ery few things are less likely to inspire singing and dancing than murder. But in Curtains, a musical murder-mystery by Frank Kander and Fred Ebb, there is little else left to do but keep rehearsing after the untimely death of the female lead on the opening night of a brand-new production. The theatre is sealed tight before any suspects can leave and Lt Frank Cioffi is called in to investigate—casting a suspicious spotlight on the stage no one involved in the play cares to bask in.

While writers Kander and Ebb are known for their sexy and slightly darker hits like Cabaret and Chicago, Curtains is a lighter offering—despite the murder. It's a flashy, fun Broadway show for the students in MacEwan University's Theatre Arts and Theatre Production programs to tackle, but according to director and MacEwan instructor, Dave Horak, the size of the musical is not only a great opportunity for teaching, it also makes this show particularly exciting for these young artists.

"It's a really, really big show," Horak explains. "It's big for the actors, it's big for all the technical side as well."

Thrown into the middle of all this grandeur is Cioffi. While your average brooding detective might feel besieged if caught backstage between high-kicks and tap dancing, Cioffi has an edge over most, as he's secretly an admirer of the genre.

"What's super fun about this character is he is a closeted musical theatre

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Until Sat, Feb 13 (7:30 pm; 2 pm matinee on Sun, Feb 7) Directed by Dave Horak John L Haar Theatre, $15 – $20 fan," Horak says. "So he does a little bit of amateur theatre on the side.

Nothing big. Just a little bit, a couple of weeks out of the year. It's his secret passion. So that gets unleashed, because he's using the theatre, [he] starts to direct a little bit and starts to want to perform. Actually, working on the musical becomes a bigger interest of his than actually solving the crime."

As silly as the show is at times, it's important to Horak that his students understand that the characters in Curtains are rooted in reality.

"They're not cartoons, they're real people," Horak says. "Kander and Ebb have that kind of beating heart of darkness in a lot of their work. This one is lighter, but these people are real.

"The one thing we teach the students about musicals is the dancing and the singing comes from somewhere," Horak finishes. "The cliché when you're teaching musical theatre is: 'You can't say it with words, so you've got to sing it or you have to dance it.' So that language of singing and the language of dancing is the only way you can express that emotion."

KATHLEEN BELL

KATHLEEN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // IMPROV

// Aaron Pederson

We're Not Afraid!

R

apid Fire Theatre is pushing the limits of its craft, with the emotional maelstrom of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as its weapon of choice. Enter We're Not Afraid!, an improvised homage playing alongside Edward Albee's masterwork at the Citadel Theatre.

Rapid Fire's production will begin on the same premise as Albee's play: an older couple (played by Matt Alden and Amy Shostak) return from a work function and invite a younger couple (Ben Gorodetsky and Joleen Ballendine) over to their home for a nightcap. Insult-hurling and secret-revealing ensue, with plenty of the plot points being determined by audience members, as per improv tradition.

While Rapid Fire and Albee's productions are similar in their quickwittedness, capturing the drama of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has been a lesson in unlearning for the cast. Namely, Who's Afraid challenges the golden rule of improv: that anything said during an improv performance is "real." Throughout the play, though, it's difficult to tell when characters are lying or telling the truth. This aspect of illusion is too central to the performance to

give up, Gorodetsky says.

"We've been working really hard on how to improvise lies," he says. "The whole play centres around this idea of truth and illusion, where in improvisation, usually anything said has to be the truth. We have to accept it as a given, because that's the kind of bedrock we've built our practice on."

We're Not Afraid! isn't just trying to replicate Albee's text, but Citadel director James MacDonald's staging of it. The set, props and costuming will mirror MacDonald's work, and the ensemble will be ditching its usual digs in Zeidler Hall for the more intimate living-room style of The Club.

Who's Afraid's assistant director, Dave Horak, is working closely with We're Not Afraid! to help the cast nail the subtleties of the play, from the literary style to the long, stylistic pauses MacDonald worked into the script.

"To honour Albee's incredible masterwork is an ambitious goal for a band of hucksters and improvisers," Gorodetsky says. "That's a challenge for us as improvisors, to shut the hell up and leave space when really we're all quick-witted and wanting to fill the space."

Thu, Feb 4 – Sat, Feb 6 (8 pm) Citadel Theatre, $23.10 – $25.20

The challenge in replicating the play to an improv setting is a welcome one, Gorodetsky says. After all, the four cast members all act professionally outside Rapid Fire, giving them the skills to craft a true homage, not a parody, of the classic play.

What's most exciting about making We're Not Afraid!, Gorodetsky says, is the opportunity to rethink what improv can do. This time around, they can improvise drama—of course, not without the expected dose of improv humour.

"The main objective is for there to be moments of impact, of actual raw pain and drama. And we absolutely can bridge that gap," he says.

"Improv is a process, not a product.

And the product can be anything in the world that you set your mind to.

You just have to do the work."

KATE BLACK

KATE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

ARTS 13

ARTS WEEKLY EMAIL YOUR FREE LISTINGS TO: LISTINGS@VUEWEEKLY.COM FAX: 780.426.2889 DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 3PM

DANCE COME JOIN THE DANCE-SACRED CIRCLE DANCE • Riverdale Hall, 92 St & 100 Ave • sackerman1@me.com • sacredcircledance.com • Nurture the body, mind, and soul with a variety of songs, music and movements. All dances are taught. Open nights are for everyone. No partner required • Every 2nd Wed, 7-9pm • $10

HARCOURT HOUSE GALLERY • 3 Fl, 10215-112 St • 780.426.4180 • harcourthouse.ab.ca • And There a Bronze Nail Stopped the Gush of Blood and Sent It Bubbling Back Inside: artwork by Jay Mosher; until Mar 4

Feb 12-Mar 1; Opening night (artist in attendance): Feb 12, 6pm & Feb 13, 1-4pm

CAFE BLACKBIRD • 9640-142 St • 780.451.8890 • cafeblackbird.ca • Artwork by Lori Frank; through Feb

JEFF ALLEN ART GALLERY (JAAG) • Strathcona

CREATIVE PRACTICES INSTITUTE • 10149-122 ST, 780.863.4040 • creativepracticesinstitute.com • Above the Clouds: artwork by Aryen Hoekstra; Jan 21-Feb 27

Place Senior Centre, 10831 University Ave, 109 St, 78 Ave • 780.433.5807 • seniorcentre.org • At Water’s Edge: artwork

by Joyce Boyer; Jan 7-Mar 3; Reception: Feb 10, 6:30-8:30pm

DC3 ART PROJECTS • 10567-111 St • 780.686.4211 • dc3artprojects.com • Infocus: Curated by Alexis Marie Chute; Feb 5-27

DRAWING ROOM • 10253-97 St • 780.760.7284 • admin@drawingroomedmonton.com • Entanglement: artwork by Diane Connors; Feb 10-27

LANDO GALLERY • 103, 10310-124 St • 780.990.1161 • landogallery.com • Lando Gallery February Group Selling Exhibition; until Feb 27

LATITUDE 53 • 10242-106 St • 780.423.5353 • latitude53.org • Trope L'oeil: artwork by Marie-Andrée Houde; Jan 29-Mar 5 • Work, Play, Sleep ... Repeat: artwork by Paul Bernhardt; Jan 29-Mar 5

FAB GALLERY • 1-1 Fine Arts Bldg, 89 Ave, 112 St • 780.492.2081 • Pilgrimage: being in the end times: artwork

by Kyle Terrence; Sponsered by Vue Weekly; Jan 19-Feb 13

TRANSFORMATIONAL BALLET • Dance Code, 10575115 St • justin@toygunstheatre.com • toygunstheatre.com • Featuring a new understanding of the body and its potential to create, communicate, and resonate in any performance medium • Every Sun, Tue, Thu until Feb 28 • $15 (drop in), 10 class passes and monthly rates available

FILM CINEMA AT THE CENTRE • Stanley Milner Library Theatre, bsmt, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.496.7070 • Film screening every Wed, 6:30pm • Free • Schedule: The Wolfpack (Feb 10) DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL • Cineplex Theatres • cineplex. com/Events/DigitalFilmFest • Featuring fan favourite sci-fi, fantasy and cult films • Feb 5-11

Artists 1 Love; Feb 6-27

Song of the Martingale A Radio Style

s ' e n i t n e l a V Show Y 12 -14, 2016 FEBRUAR Romantic dinner and overnight packages available

FORTEDMONTONPARK.CA

913 Ash St, Sherwood Park • strathconacountymuseum.ca • Making Their Mark: The Land Surveyor's Role in the Peaceful and Orderly Development of Alberta; Jan 4-Apr 30

U OF A MUSEUMS GALLERIES AT ENTERPRISE SQUARE • Main floor, 10230 Jasper Ave • Open: Thu-Fri, 12-6pm, Sat 12-4pm • Do It Yourself: Collectivity and Collaboration in Edmonton; Nov 28-Mar 5

VAA GALLERY • 3rd Fl, 10215-112 St • visualartsalberta. com • Gallery A: Cultural Exchange; Dec 3-Feb 27 • Gallery B: Alberta Artists Collect Alberta Art; Dec 3-Feb 27

WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM OF CANADA • La Cité Francophone 2nd Pavillon, #200, 8627 Rue Marie-AnneGaboury (91 St) • 780.803.2016 • info@wamsoc.ca • wamsoc.ca • Northern Reflections: artwork by Barbara Pankratz; Jan 7-Feb 13

TALES–Monthly Storytelling Circle • Parkallen Community Hall, 6510-111 St • Monthly TELLAROUND: 2nd Wed each month • Sep-Jun, 7-9pm • Free • Info: 780.437.7736; talesedmonton@hotmail.com

UPPER CRUST CAFÉ • 10909-86 Ave • 780.422.8174 • strollofpoets.com • The Poets’ Haven Reading Series: Most Mon (except holidays), 7pm, Sep-Mar; presented by the Stroll of Poets Society • $5 (door)

ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA (AGA) • 2 Sir Winston FRONT GALLERY • 12323-104 Ave • thefrontgallery. com • Edmonton Suite: Group show; through Jan • Lyric: artwork by Steve Coffey; Feb 11-Mar 1; Opening reception: Feb 11, 7-9pm

LOFT GALLERY • AJ Ottewell Gallery, 590 Broadmoor Blvd, Sherwood Park • 780.449.4443 • artstrathcona.com • Open: Sat-Sun 12-4pm • It’s All About Texture: artwork by Joyce Boyer; Feb

GALLERY@501 • 501 Festival Ave, Sherwood Park •

MCMULLEN GALLERY • U of A Hospital, 8440-112 St

780.410.8585 • strathcona.ca/artgallery • Portraits; Jan 8-Feb 21 • Interpretations: featuring paintings, printmaker, photographer; Jan 8-Feb 21

GALLERY AT MILNER • Stanley A. Milner Library Main Fl, Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.944.5383 • epl.ca/art-gallery • Walls: Parks and Gardens: Acrylic paintings by Marcie Rohr; until Feb 29 • Cases and Cubes: A selection of prints and mixed media works by the University of Alberta's Visual Arts Students; until Feb 29

• 780.407.7152 • friendsofuah.org/mcmullen-gallery • The Steamfitter's Guide: artwork by Robin Smith-Peck; Dec 12-Feb 7 • Keiskamma Trust: This show will feature textile artworks exploring the theme of birds; Feb 13-Mar 20

MULTICULTURAL CENTRE PUBLIC ART GALLERY (MCPAG)–Stony Plain • 5411-51 St, Stony Plain • multicentre.org • Masterworks: artwork by The Alberta Craft Council; Jan 9-Feb 18

CURTAINS • John L. Haar Theatre, 10045-156 St • 780.420.1757 (Tix on the Square) • It’s the bright and promising year of 1959 and Boston’s Colonial Theatre is hosting the opening night of a new musical. When the leading lady dies suddenly on stage, the entire cast & crew become suspects. Enter a local detective, who just happens to be a musical theatre fan, who must solve the mystery and save the show • Feb 3-13, 7:30-10:30pm (matinees at 2pm on Feb 7); No shows on Feb 8 • $15-$20

DIE-NASTY • The Backstage Theatre at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-83 Ave • communications@varsconatheatre.com • die-nasty.com • Live improvised soap opera • Runs every Mon, 7:30-9:30pm • Until May 30 • $14 or $9 with a $30 membership; at the door (cash) or at tixonthesquare.com

THE EARLY BLOOMER • Westbury Theatre, ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-84 Ave • 780.439.3905 • concretetheatre. ca • Presented by Concrete Theatre. A story that follows Maisy Daisy and her best buds in their hilarious adventures in the 5th Row of the Garden Plot, as Maisy faces the embarrassing and exciting challenges of blossoming a little sooner than her pals • Feb 12 (7pm), Feb 13 (11am & 2pm) • $13 (kids 12 and under), $16 (student/senior), $19 (adult)

FRINGE THEATRE ADVENTURES PRESENTS EDGAR ALLAN • PCL Studio Theatre, ATB Financial

THE GAY HERITAGE PROJECT • Citadel Theatre, 9828

westendgalleryltd.com • Artwork by Guy Roy; Feb 6-18

PLAYWRITING BOOTCAMP • Strathcona County Library, 401 Festival Lane, Sherwood Park • 780.410.8600 • sclibrary. ab.ca • Join Metro Federation Writer in Residence Marty Chan for a three-part playwriting series. In this first workshop, Marty will give guests the tools and knowledge they will need to write their own short play • Feb 6, 1-3pm • Free (register online at sclibrary.ab.ca, or phone 780.410.8600)

St • 780.488.6611 • albertacraft.ab.ca • Feature Gallery: X3: artwork by Alberta Potters’ Association, Contextural | Fibre Arts Cooperative and the Nina Haggerty Centre; Jan 16-Mar 26 • What Grows in the Ditch: artwork by Donna Brunner; Feb 13-Mar 29 • MIX: artwork by Paula Cooley; Feb 13-Mar 19

CONFESSIONS OF A SEX WORKER • ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-84 Ave • chinookseries.ca/on-stage • A play where one woman shares her insider secrets about what really goes on behind closed doors after the money is on the table. Listen to her stories about her most memorable clients and about life in the business where it’s literally sex that’s for sale and nothing is black or white • Feb 6-7

WEST END GALLERY • 10337-124 St • 780.488.4892 •

County Library, 401 Festival Lane, Sherwood Park • 780.410.8600 • sclibrary.ab.ca • Guests will spend the day working on their 10-15 minute play. Guests must bring their own laptop • Feb 13, 10am-5pm • Free (register online at sclibrary.ab.ca, or phone 780.410.8600)

ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL GALLERY • 10186-106

rapidfiretheatre.com • Rapid Fire Theatre’s longform comedy show: improv formats, intricate narratives, and one-act plays • Every Sat, 10pm • $12 (door or buy in adv at TIX on the Square) • Until Jun

• 780.460.5990 • vasa-art.com • The Fine Line Between...: artwork by The Goop of 7; Feb 2-Mar 18; Opening reception: Feb 4, 6-9pm

VASA GALLERY • 25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave, St Albert

ONE-DAY PLAYWRITING MARATHON • Strathcona

GALLERIES + MUSEUMS

CHIMPROV • Citadel's Zeidler Hall, 9828-101A Ave •

Arts Barns, 10330-84 Ave • 780.448.9000 • fta@ fringetheatre.ca • 11-year-old Edgar Allan has one goal; to be the most remarkable boy at boarding school. He has only one obstacle: Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan is a manic lullaby inspired by the childhood and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe • Jan 31-Feb 7

St NW • 780.691.1691 • There will be different themes each month • Every 2nd Tue of month, 8:30-10:30pm • $20 (door); 18+ only

General Store Downtown, 10150-104 St • michael@egs. ca • earthsgeneralstore.eventbrite.com • Screenings of documentaries with subjects such as: climate change, animal welfare, and more. • Schedule: Bikes vs Cars (Feb 13), Dirt! The Documentary (Feb 27) • Every Sat (except Feb 6), 7-9pm • Free (register at EventBrite)

14 ARTS

STRATHCONA COUNTY MUSEUM & ARCHIVES •

NAKED GIRLS READING • Brittany's Lounge, 10225-97

SATURDAY DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS • Earth's

bugeramathesongallery.com • Detour: artwork by Curtis Trent;

Grove • 780.962.0664 • alliedartscouncil.com • JoAnne Denis; Jan 26-Feb 20

audreys.ca • 2nd Annual Galentine's Day; Feb 13, 2-3:30pm

METRO • Metro at the Garneau Theatre, 8712-109 St • 780.425.9212 • BEACH!: Gidget Goes Hawaiian (Feb 16) • FALLING INTO PLACE: FOUR FILMS BY SATOSHI KON: Tokyo Godfathers (Feb 6-7, Feb 10); Paprika (Feb 13-14, Feb 17)

BUGERA MATHESON GALLERY • 10345-124 St •

SPRUCE GROVE ART GALLERY • 35-5 Ave, Spruce

AUDREYS BOOKS • 10702 Jasper Ave • 780.423.3487 •

Churchill Sq • 780.496.7000 • epl.ca • Films adapted from books every Fri afternoon at 2pm • Schedule: All the President's Men (Feb 5), Shattered Glass (Feb 12)

dave@bleedingheartartspace.com • kâ-katawasisicik iskwêwak: Visual works by Lana Whiskeyjack; Jan 30-Mar 15

10123-121 St • 780.423.1492 • snapartists.com • The Lebret Residential Petroglyphs: artwork by Tanya Harnett; Jan 7-Feb 20 • Ingrid Ledent; Feb 3-Apr 14

LITERARY

FROM BOOKS TO FILM • Stanley A. Milner, 7 Sir Winston

BLEEDING HEART ART SPACE • 9132-118 Ave •

780.455.7479 • probertsongallery.com • Artwork by Colin Smith; Jan 16-Feb 6 • Artwork by Graham Peacock; Feb 11-Mar 1 • Artwork by Bill Anderson; Feb 11-Mar 1; Opening reception: Feb 11, 7-9pm

SNAP GALLERY • Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists,

EDMONTON FILM SOCIETY • Royal Alberta Museum, 12845-102 Ave • 780.439.5285 • edmontonfilmsociety@ gmail.com • royalalbertamuseum.ca/movies • This winter film series will feature the theme: Love Is In The Air • Schedule: Three Coins in the Fountain (Feb 8) • All films begin at 8pm • $6 (regular), $5 (seniors 65+/students), $30 (all eight films)

Churchill Sq • 780.422.6223 • youraga.ca • Living Building Thinking: Art and Expressionism; Oct 24-Feb 15 • She's All That: artwork by Dana Holst; Oct 24-Feb 15 • Fabric: Charrette Roulette; Nov 21-Apr 10 • The Blur in Between; Jan 23-May 8 • The Flood: artwork by Sean Caulfield; Feb 6-Aug 14 • Out of the Woods: artwork by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven; Feb 13-Apr 17 • Family Day at your AGA; Feb 15, 11am-5pm; Free • Open Studio Adult Drop-In: Wed, 7-9pm; $18/$16 (AGA member) • All Day Sundays: Art activities for all ages; Activities, 12-4pm; Tour; 2pm • Late Night Wednesdays: Every Wed, 6-9pm

PETER ROBERTSON GALLERY • 12304 Jasper Ave •

SCOTT GALLERY • 10411-124 St • scottgallery.com • 5

FLAMENCO DANCE CLASSES (BEGINNER OR ADVANCED) • Dance Code Studio, 10575-115 St NW #204

Ave • richelle@toygunstheatre.com • toygunstheatre.com • Develop practical flexibility and strength • Every Tue until Feb 23, 8-9pm • $15 (drop-in), 10 class passes and monthly rates available

ca • Naess Gallery: The Texture of Experience: artwork by Yasir Ali, Laurie Bentz, Terry Daly, & Janet Sutanto; Jan 7-Feb 18 • Artisan Nook: Marquetry: painting with wood: several finely crafted pieces by Jonica & Alex Heinze (Fine Lines Marquetry); Jan 7-Feb 18

• deanlack@shaw.ca • bestsidephotography.com • Photography Display by Dean C. Lack; Jan 15-Feb 26

Centre, 11113-113 St • 780.893.6828 • Feb 6, 8pm

TOY GUNS DANCE THEATRE STRETCH AND STRENGTH CLASSES • St. John's Institute, 11024-82

PAINT SPOT • 10032-81 Ave • 780.432.0240 • paintspot.

SCOTIA PLACE • 10060 Jasper Ave • 780.445.8900

EBDA BALLROOM DANCE • Lions Seniors Recreational

Sir Winston Churchill Square • 780.970.7766 • brasko@ edmontonarts.ca • edmontonarts.ca/eac_projects/ eac_projects_churchillsquare • Every Sun until Feb 28, 1-4pm • Free

fisherman caught in the fall out of an American nuclear detonation. A dispassionate anthropologist teaching the effects of radiation on human populations. A cynical politician out to protect his country no matter what the cost. A drama that compassionately explores decisions that changed the world and their all too human consequences • Jan 20-Feb 7

Road • PAA@gov.ab.ca • 780.427.1750 • culture.alberta. ca/paa/eventsandexhibits/default.aspx • Marlena Wyman: Illuminating the Diary of Alda Dale Randall; Feb 2-Aug 20

• albertaballet.com • Feb 19-20, 7:30pm

SWING 'N' SKATE • City Hall - City Room & Plaza, 1

BRAVO • Backstage Theatre 10330-84 Ave • A Japanese

Anne Street, St Albert • MuseeHeritage.ca • 780.459.1528 • museum@artsandheritage.ca • The True Cost of Oil: Canada’s Oil Sands and the Last Great Forest: A photographic exhibition

by Garth Lenz; Feb 4-Apr 17; Opening reception: Feb 6, 2-5pm

PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF ALBERTA • 8555 Roper

DYNAMIC DIRECTIONS • Alberta Ballet • 780.428.6839

• 780.349.4843 • judithgarcia07@gmail.com • Every Sun, 11:30am-12:30pm

MUSÉE HÉRITAGE MUSEUM • St Albert Place, 5 St

THEATRE 11 O'CLOCK NUMBER • The Backstage Theatre, 10330-84 Ave (North Side of the ATB Financial Arts Barns) • grindstonetheatre.ca • 90 minutes of improvised entertainment • Every Fri, starting Sep 25-Jun 25, 11pm • $15 (online, at the door) BOEING BOEING • Walterdale Theatre, 10322-83 Ave • 780.439.3058 • walterdaletheatre.com • Sponsered by Vue Weekly. Bernard is one lucky '60s bachelor. He is engaged to three beautiful air hostesses who will never meet thanks to his relationship bible—the airline timetable. But, when a speedy new Boeing and a storm cause the women to have simultaneous layovers, Bernard's unwitting friend, Robert, gets caught up in his own lies and futile attempts to conceal Bernard's polygamy • Feb 3-13

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

101A Ave • 780.425.1820 • citadeltheatre.com • Three gifted creators and performers, all formerly of Edmonton, set out to answer one question: is there such a thing as gay heritage?

The result is a hilarious and moving homage to the people who came before and the events that continue to shape our lives • Feb 10-27

KLONDYKES • C103, 8529 Gateway Blvd • theatrenetwork.ca • A pair of saloon girls - barred from the territories for being unmarried - disguise themselves as man and wife in order to join the Klondike Gold Rush and seek their freedom.

As they debut their new identities, Hattie and Loosey discover that the roles they’re playing may involve more fact than fiction • Feb 2-21

LA VOIX HUMAINE • La Cite Francophone, 8627 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury • admin@operanuova.ca • lunitheatre. ca • A monodramatic opera or a musical monologue. A young woman, referred to only as “Elle” (the French feminine pronoun), has been abandoned by her lover and in the bedroom of her home lies awaiting his call. The story that follows see Elle grow more and more despondent, as the audience becomes immersed in the stinging desperation of Elle’s tragic yearnings • Feb 11-20, 8-9:30pm • $15-$25, $20-$30 ( Opening night) A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM • Timms Centre for the Arts, 87 Ave & 112 St • uab.ca/shows • Sponsered

by Vue Weekly. We all can be erratic and foolish when it comes to romance. Look no further than the Fairy Queen on a midsummer's eve, in a magical wood filled with enchantment, whimsy and mischief, when she falls head-over-heels in love with a jackass ... • Feb 4-13, 7:30pm • $25 (adult), $22 (seniors), $12 (students) MOUTHPIECE • ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-84 Ave • chinookseries.ca/on-stage • Follows one woman, for one day, as she tries to find her voice • Feb 4-6 SEX PLEASE, WE’RE SIXTY • St. Albert Kinsmen Banquet Hall, 47 Riel Drive, St. Albert • 780.222.0102 • stalberttheatre.com • Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast will never be the same after the feeble but enthusiastic Bud Davis is done wooing all of Mrs. Stancliffe’s female guests • Feb 4-7, Feb 11-14, Feb 18-20

THEATRESPORTS • Citadel's Zeidler Hall, 9828-101A Ave • rapidfiretheatre.com • Improv • Every Fri, 7:30pm and 10pm • Sep-Jun • $12/$10 (member) at TIX on the Square URSA MAJOR • Backstage Theatre, ATB Financial Art Barns, 10330 84 Ave • 780.477.5955 • workshopwest.org • After a horrific car accident, a retired couple must decide how to best deal with the injuries they've sustained • Jan 27-Feb 7 WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? • Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Ave • 780.425.1820 • citadeltheatre. com • Jan 23-Feb 16

POP // COMICS

POP

POP EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@vueweekly.com

// Ryan Bromsgrove

POPCULTURE HAPPENINGS Heather Skinner // skinner@vueweekly.com

Happy Harbor's artist-in-residence role benefits the artist and public alike

I

f you stop by Happy Harbor Comics on a Friday or Saturday afternoon between now and August, you might just find Andrew Leung working on his own comic creation.

He's the comic shop's new artist-inresidence, a service run by Happy Harbor to benefit artists and the public by providing space for artists to get some exposure and community interaction going. In Leung's case, he's aiming to finish a 24-page comic in the next week or so.

"The comic is a sort of high fantasy, Leung says. "It takes place in a world where magic rivals science. There are demigods that walk the Earth, and as a result these societies have sprung up around these individuals. Religion and state are fairly intermixed and intertwined and different cultures and practices arise around these demigods.

"It's about a young elfish orphan who finds herself wandering into one

of these cities," he continues. "And it's about her struggles dealing with individuals and strange new customs as well as just trying to find a place where she can belong in this society."

Titled Fate by Fortune and planned to be presented as a webcomic, this was detailed as a goal to pursue in Leung's application. The artist-in-residence is free to work on other projects, including commissions, but Leung's got more Fate by Fortune planned beyond these first 24 pages.

"For the rest of my time, I'll be working on either material relating to that— concept art, characters, environments, locations in that world—or working on subsequent comic chapters."

The artist-in-residence program's been running for several years now, with artists chosen by an independent panel and not the store itself, and for reasons broader than the art itself.

"Happy Harbor is not involved in the selection process at all," owner Jay Bardyla says. "The qualifications for the position go beyond one's artistic ability. Their proposed goals to achieve with the position show focus.

Their volunteer work shows character.

Their samples show dedication. And none are reflective of 'quality of art.'

It's as much about intent and purpose than skill.

"We started it because we would often hear artists mention how they had a full-time and a part-time job and struggled to make time to work on their art," Bardyla continues. "This program gives artists dedicated time to work on their craft and earn some money at the same time."

The program puts $100 per week into the artists' pockets—and despite how the public setting might seem to be distracting, Leung says he finds the environment much

less so than if he were just working alone. On top of that, he's happy about the public interaction aspect of the program.

"While I'm working here, people are always free to come up and talk and see what I'm working on," he says. "If they have pieces to show me, I can also provide feedback for them."

A few weeks into his 32-week term, Leung has plenty of time left to work on Fate by Fortune, or anything else he likes, and anyone else has plenty of time to drop by, talk about his projects, watch him work and get advice about their own work.

"It's been really rewarding so far.

On top of just interacting with the public, which you normally wouldn't get if I was just working in a studio somewhere, it gives me time to focus and get work done."

Ryan Bromsgrove

ryan@vueweekly.com

VUEWEEKLY.com | feb 4 – feb 10, 2016

Love Live! The School Idol Movie / Thu, Feb 4 (7 pm) It's one of Japan's most popular anime films from 2015, and it's likely to get viewers tapping their feet and bobbing their heads to adorable pop tunes. Love Live! The School Idol Movie wraps up a 26-episode run that follows the journey of the high school pop-star group known as μ's. That's where the movie picks up; now that the girls have completed their goals, μ's is on the brink of dissolving as three of its members near graduation.

But with a huge competition about to take place, the group decides to stay together and perform one last concert. (Scotiabank Theatre, Cineplex Odeon South) Hexpert Night: Puerto Rico / Wed, Feb 10 (7:30 pm) Puerto Rico is one of those classic board games you can't stop playing. In it, players assume the roles of colonial governors on the island of—you guessed it—Puerto Rico. The aim of the game: gain the most victory points and achieve the greatest prosperity and respect. One of GOBfest's ambassadors will be on hand to show participants how to be the best at the game's many roles. (Hexagon Board Game Café, $5) V POP 15

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Becoming Unbecoming C

louds of memories ("I once learned to play 'Mull of Kintyre' on the guitar ... It was 1977 ... a strange musical era") drift over trees veining like capillaries. A girl, black bangs framing her face, holds onto an empty word balloon or slings it over her back as she trudges up a rounded hill.

"Unfortunately, if you don't tell ... no one notices."

Becoming Unbecoming is a feminist memoir of Una's childhood in '70s Yorkshire, when and where a man was serially attacking and murdering women. In her teens, flattered by older males and treated as if so mature, Una's violated and manipulated. This anti-fairy-tale, melancholy and drifting, is fuelled by a fiercely political retrospective tone. There are gossamer wings and wolves in fields; women are tagged with guilt or innocence in a victim-blaming and -shaming culture; "slut" stalks Una at school and "whore" is splashed across articles about the "Yorkshire Ripper."

Socio-historical context, swirling contemporary questions, self-reflective cultural analyses and details of the stumbling, sexism-blinkered police investigation are braided into the narrative. ("But I still didn't tell.")

Young Una's psychology and troubled coming-of-age (schoolmates treat her brutally) are offered up in pencil drawings, ink-washes, Rorschach-like blots, cutouts of

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Now available

By Una Myriad, 207 pp, $28.95 women's outfits (playing with gender roles and expectations), even imaginings of victims' lives regained.

All of this—some like sketches drawn from the subconscious—unfurls amid each page's white space (like finely wrought poetry, this art seems ever-aware of the blank waiting at the brink of each line). The girl Una's fragmentation, dissociation and fading in-and-out of feeling are suggested by the artist Una's playing with one- and two-dimensional images, visual and textual juxtapositions, sudden flourishes of colour, and flattened or deepened perspective.

"We have to listen to them ... otherwise we are united only by silence."

Here's a work—correcting and countering blindnesses of the past—that could offer some of the comfort, compassion and context for victims of gender-violence that young Una never knew. In its tender and troubling look at women's visibility and invisibility, voices and voicelessness, becoming and unbecoming in a violent man's world—violent for far too long already—Una's piercing memoir writes back and speaks up.

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

SNOWZONE // CHARITY

SNOW ZONE

SNOW ZONE EDITOR : JASMINE SALAZAR JASMINE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

// Chris Tse

Fat biking for love

Y

ou're climbing up a long, steep hill at the three-quarter mark of an endurance ride. With each churn of the pedals your brain says no, your legs scream and the rest of your body feels wobbly, overheated and tingly.

That, says Michael MacFynn, is what it can be like living with multiple sclerosis. He is the organizer of a new fat-bike charity race, Fatbikes for MS, taking place on February 14.

His wife, Bonnie, began experiencing these symptoms in February 2015, and she was diagnosed with MS in July. Their experience living with the disease inspired him to take on the event.

While the 50-kilometre ride is designed to be fun, it will also pit riders against a challenging course that Michael says he hopes gives participants a window on the struggles of those afflicted with MS. "For that four-hour period, you experience what it's like living with something that is so hard," Michael says, "But you just need to push through, and you just have to do what you can at your own pace—similar to what it's like living with MS." For Michael and Bonnie, learning how to live with MS has been a process of adjustment over the past year.

"It's been a drastic change to our

New fat-bike charity race will give riders a taste of life with MS lives," he says. "We have a new normal."

On any given week, Bonnie might spend several days in bed, unable to get up and function normally.

"Some days she'll wake up and nothing's wrong," Michael says, "And then the next day she's exhausted again, or she's dizzy or she's nauseous, or experiencing nerve pain all throughout her body."

The unpredictable nature of the disease is part of the challenge for people living with MS. While awareness and understanding of multiple sclerosis has grown over the years, it is still a mystery in some ways. No two sufferers' symptoms are exactly alike. That can make it hard to comprehend, especially for children— like the MacFynns' two daughters, age four and six.

"It can be such an invisible disease, it's hard to understand," Michael explains. "They ask, 'Why is mommy in bed again today?'

"They're kids though, they catch on— they see the struggles," he continues.

"And they help out a lot, actually."

keep riders going, Michael promises, such as barbecued snacks, hot chocolate and apple cider. There will also be demo bikes on hand for those wanting to test out a new ride, and family, friends and volunteers to cheer on the riders.

In some ways, that balance of fun and struggle mirrors life for the MacFynns, too. While some days can be rough, the family makes the best of the good times when they come.

Both Michael and Bonnie have been passionate bikers for a long time.

Michael is a former racer who works at Revolution Cycle; Bonnie used to ride for MS as an ambassador, in tribute to her father. Last summer, when her symptoms began making it difficult to ride, Bonnie

bought an electric bike so that the family could continue riding together. For Michael, channelling that passion for biking into the cause of MS advocacy and research just made sense.

In turn, Michael hopes that the event will break new trail for the MS Society. Initially, the society was exploring the possibility of launching a winter ride, but wasn't ready to commit for this year. Instead, it handed the event over to Michael.

While the ride isn't an official MS Society event, money raised from the ride will go towards MS fundraising efforts for the SG Front Forks, Michael's MS riding team.

And if the event can demonstrate that there is enough interest, Mi-

Sun, Feb 14 (10 am) Fatbikes for MS Dawson Park

chael says—he is hoping to attract 100 to 150 participants at $50 per entry—the MS Society may see fit to add the ride to its official fundraising event calendar for next year.

At the end of the day, though, Michael's motivation is personal.

"That's why we chose Valentine's Day," he says. "You could go out for a fancy dinner, or you could do something special for someone you love."

JEREMY DERKSEN

JEREMY@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Of course, it's not all about struggle.

The Fatbikes for MS course starts and ends at Dawson Park and will have some fun river valley singletrack, as well as plenty of treats to VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

SNOW ZONE 17

SNOW ZONE SNOWZONE // FESTIVAL

Flying Canoë Volant

Fri, Feb 5 & Sat, Feb 6 Mill Creek Ravine, La Cité Francophone flyingcanoevolant.ca

The festival celebrates rich Canadian heritage

A

legend can be more than just a tall tale meant to teach or entertain. Sometimes legends can serve a greater purpose, one that binds a nation and its people together around a story that belongs to them.

One of the tales that has become part of the national consciousness is the story of the Flying Canoe, known as la chasse-galerie in French, a French-Canadian story of voyageurs who make a deal with the devil. The pact involves transporting a group of voyageurs from their remote camp to New Year's Eve festivities in a flying

canoe. In exchange for the magical powers bestowed on the canoe, the voyageurs have a set of rules they must follow which, of course, they break and are forced to forever sail through the night sky on New Year's Eve on their flying canoe.

The Flying Canoe manifests in a wide range of Canadiana including a postage stamp, a beer label, an amusement park ride in Montréal. It was even featured during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Edmonton's tribute to the Flying Ca-

noe legend takes the form of a twoday event that transforms Mill Creek Ravine and La Cité Francophone into grounds for the family friendly festival.

The ravine serves as the site for drumming, dancing and costumed characters connected to the legend, and it all takes place under beautiful light installations as visitors stroll from station to station. At the end of the ravine a horse-drawn carriage carts people over to La Cité Francophone, where they can take part in an ice slide, an ice bar and making maple taffy while checking out music provided by DJs.

"It's not as much a festival as an adventure," explains Daniel Cournoyer, executive director of La Cité Francophone. "It's a night-walk through a ravine followed by a trip to the ultimate warming hut. There is no one starting point or finishing point."

The Flying Canoë Volant originally started as part of the Winterlights event, which has since ceased operation, and has grown into a major event of its own, attracting over 12 000 participants last year. Cournoyer says the event is built on the artis-

tic and historic context of the Flying Canoe legend, but there is a deeper purpose as well.

"It's a chance to connect and dialogue with our indigenous, Métis and Francophone communities," he explains. "It really pays homage to those founding communities, and it's a chance for all of Edmonton to participate.

"Everyone is taking the story as part of their inspiration," Cornoyer continues. "And it can't be more Canadian than having a canoe involved."

STEVEN KENWORTHY

STEVEN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FALLLINES Back in the snow aone Old Man Winter took a bit of a break in late December and early January, but recently there's been a nice turnaround in snow conditions at most mountain resorts. Last week, steady snowfalls of 20 to 40 cm were recorded at Marmot Basin, Sunshine Village, Lake Louise, Castle Mountain and Fernie. As for the local hills, the recent rainfall had hill staff scrambling day and night. Let's hope we're in line for a massive snowfall soon to ensure a lengthy season of boarding and skiing.

HART GOLBECK HART@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Exchange-rate blues The Canadian dollar is hovering around US $0.70 right now, which doens't make travelling across the border for some winter fun look very appealing right now. Only gas prices are somewhat similar, converting to about CAN $0.66 per litre. Lift tickets at Big Mountain in Montana and Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho are approximately CAN $102 per day. That's hefty considering snow conditions are quite similar to our Rocky Mountain Resorts. There are

some package deals available, but you're going to have to sift through them to find something that's suitable for your time and availability.

Either way, it's still going to cost a premium. I was just in Spokane for a week, and the exchange really catches up to you when you have a peek at your credit card statement.

(Thankfully happy hour is still a sizeable discount in the US.) I did talk to several people who are frequenting our Canadian ski resorts as a result of the exchange, though, and the US

dollar is going a long way for them.

They can hit the slopes with great conditions at Whitewater for about US $50 per day.

Mountain Events Family Day is coming to Marmot Basin. If you're thinking about heading there for the Family Day long weekend, Marmot is offering junior and youth two-day and three-day lift tickets at 50 percent off. That's a pretty sweet deal, especially if you have a couple of teens going

with you. Combine that with the free breakfast special until the end of April at the Sawridge Inn and the deal is as good or better than Jasper In January.

If you're heading down south to Fernie this weekend, be aware of "bicicles" in and around the resort.

On February 6 and February 7, twowheelers with fat tires will be gathering for the Kodiak Lounge Winter Bicicle Shred Fest. There are several races and with only a $10 entry fee, the entertainment is pretty cheap.

EDGECONTROL SKI SHOP Renting Gear in Jasper? Why Not Rent Better! www.EdgeControl.ca | 1.888.242.3343 | 626 Connaught Drive Jasper (next to Subway) WITH BRANDS LIKE 18 SNOW ZONE

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

REVUE // DRAMA

W

ho is your love, and did he ever love another? How long does love need abide to know that love is true and forever? As the ice collapses all over the planet and we wait for some watery apocalypse, other, smaller apocalypses are already stirring in the vapours rising from the melt. For it is a melting glacier that yields the remains of long-lost love in 45 Years, Weekend director Andrew Haigh's nearperfect, ingeniously cast adaptation of David Constantine's short story "In Another Country."

Kate and Geoff (British New Wavers Charlotte Rampling and Tom Cour-

FILM

FILM EDITOR : PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

tenay) are an elderly Norfolk couple planning a celebration of their 45th wedding anniversary. They seem happy. Their house feels like a place where two people's lives have been integrated into a home. They seem to know each other in the way anyone hopes to know anyone else after 45 years. But Geoff gets news that Katia, the woman he was travelling with as a young backpacker back in 1962, who perished in a hiking accident in Switzerland, has finally been found. Her body, that is. This was all so long ago, before Kate and Geoff had even met. It might as well be another life. Yet Kate, who is normally

so sturdy and tranquil, is troubled. The past is a garden of forking paths, and suddenly the old shadowy path that Geoff might have taken with this other woman—even her name is so close to Kate's—is fully lit, undermining the sense that the path Geoff did take, the one taken with Kate, was immovable destiny. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is the song Kate and Geoff choose to dance to at their anniversary party, but for Kate it's as though the smoke is finally clearing and she can see the past 45 years as being brutally contingent of the accidental death of a woman she never knew.

But I may be in danger of over-simplifying things. What seems irrational or unreasonable in one scene becomes insight in the next. One of the merits of 45 Years is that nothing in this seemingly simple story is at all simple, and little of what's brewing inside Kate or Geoff is fully articulated. The performances speak to whole lifetimes of shared experience and private thought.

Courtenay's distant gaze or the way he handles a coffee mug, Ramping's tiny gasps, or the way she lingers over a display of Swiss watches. And Haigh is elegant in the way he stays out of their way, employing sequence shots and

Opens Friday 45 Years Directed by Andrew Haigh  creeping zooms that recall Bergman, making us aware of how heavily certain moments pass in silence. 45 Years is probably not a good date-night movie, but it bears a wisdom about the ways that even late in life marriage and selfhood can be destabilized and fissures can occur in the bedrock of long-term love.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // DRAMA Opens Friday Directed by László Nemes Princess Theatre 

Son of Saul T

hey could be digging something up, or burying something below.

Son of Saul's unfocused opening shot has some kind of action behind its blur, lingering in that state long enough for you to consider if it's an issue with the projector. But eventually someone emerges out of the bokeh: Saul (Géza Röhrig) finds lens focus— a place he'll occupy for most of Son of Saul's runtime—with a blank face. It's the hardened gaze of someone trying to think or feel anything at all.

This is Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 1944: Saul is a sonderkommando, a captive forced to shepherd new arrivals to a chamber where they'll be told a hot tea and wages for work await them after a shower. Nobody comes out of that shower alive, until one does:

a boy, barely still here, and still not long for the world. But his momentary survival twigs attention, and then recognition from Saul. Unspoken, something changes in his blank face; a purpose, beyond mere survival begins to consume him: he abandons whatever other desperate hopes and survival methods he had to give the child a proper Jewish burial.

Son of Saul is Hungarian director's László Nemes' feature debut.

It swept into Cannes and won the Grand Prix, and picked up a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film—the first Hungarian film ever to do so—on its way to the Oscars, where it's nominated in the same category. The film's raw power is unquestionable. The portrait of a con-

centration camp is one of unspeakable visions spooling out from the peripheries: clearing bodies from the shower rooms—which are referred to as "pieces" by guards and living prisoner alike—or walking by massive furnaces; the shovelling of massive piles of ash into a lake. Saul fills the frame in almost every moment of the film's long, rarely broken shots, drifting through all of these images.

That all of these images pass through in the lens' corners and sides is as potent as if the camera lingered long on each; the effect is that of submersion. There's no score either, only the sounds of a concentration camp in full operation: shouts, work, screams, furnaces, gunshots, horror.

So, yes, Son of Saul is a brutal, powerful polemic. It aims to take an incredible emotional toll and does, offering little relent. Nemes immerses us in horrors by focusing on someone so damaged by them he's effectively numb to them—Röhrig's a compelling actor, but Saul himself is almost impenetrable. The one idea that occupies him—burying this child—reawakens his humanity so singularly that it too proves inescapable: a fellow prisoner, plotting with the other sonderkommandos for escape, accuses him of "forsaking the living for the dead."

Still, I'm not sure if Nemes is quite capable of finessing all this bluntforce filmmaking into something other than blunt—its last section, a

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chase, doesn't quite hold together the way its earlier moments do. Nemes has re-framed the Holocaust from a particularly lonely perspective, one that we haven't seen before, I suppose, but the challenge and nuance here seems to be in the filmmaking, the focus on Saul, with the emotions beneath the material's harrowing nature taken for granted. Which, sure, yes: it was a hopeless place. But other than proving another reminder of the unspeakable brutality of concentration camps, I'm not sure what Son of Saul adds to the conversation about the people who suffered within them, except to underline how shattering and singular a hell like that can be.

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FILM 19

FILM REVUE // ANIME

Sat, Feb 6 – Wed, Feb 10 Directed by Satoshi Kon Metro Cinema at the Garneau Originally released: 2003

Tokyo Godfathers S

atoshi Kon's third film sees the reality-bending anime auteur take a sudden, screeching left-turn down the seasonal-sentiment turnpike, barreling merrily through It's A Wonderful Life-ville. A nativity story starring a rag-tag, down-andout, non-nuclear family, Tokyo Godfathers mixes comedy, coincidences, social-criticism and melodrama in this Frank Capra-esque caper.

Grumpy alcoholic Gin, trans woman Hana and teen runaway Miyuki stick together on streets and in back alleys; their home's a tent in wintry Tokyo.

On Christmas Eve, not in a manger but a garbage depot, they discover a babe; they christen her Kiyoko ("pure child"). These drifting souls, who have lost or left their own homes, now try to find the little girl's family; the wizened, wised-up three, in different ways, feel like trash themselves: "We are three good-for-nothing bums."

They can lash out at each other, spitting judgments as they angrily displace their shame and guilt. Yet their quest is more moral, it seems, than the lives of so many sneering urbanites around them who haven't fallen through the city's cracks.

Three flashes of violence—the attempted murder of a yakuza boss at a wedding; jeering young men play-

ing beat-up-the-hobo; an ambulance careening off the snowy streets and into a store—spatter this winter's tale like blood on snow. And then there are those moments when Hana offers a haiku, its words flashed up on the screen ("My mother's white breath / as she watches me set out / on a long journey"). The most obvious Kon touches here are his playing with action-movie tropes and a chase-climax involving nesting-doll layers of thievery.

Miyuki, at first just another unimpressed adolescent, harbours a horrific secret about why she fled home; one of many sudden happenstances sees grumpy Gin meet his daughter again. Hana, once a drag-queen singer, is best when taking charge; otherwise, she tends to swoon into stereotype, her theatricality (pulls shawl around shoulders, humph!s, storms off) and campiness infecting the other non-hetero characters here, with so many of them wailing or sobbing. The story's comedy and pathos can be similarly overwrought, too. And in its near-maudlin, madcap finale, Tokyo Godfathers' slapstick, screwball and sentiment don't stickily roll into the snowball of the too-satisfying ending that it wants.

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // FILM SERIES

Edmonton Film Society Winter series

A

Breakfast at Tiffany's.

20 FILM

t the heart of this month, the ides of February, lies that rosepetaled, chocolate-boxed couples' day—when single units can feel the lonely weight of their measurement.

Still, it can be hard to imagine an electrifying glance or the heat of ardor in the midst of a snow-crunched, icebound Febrrrruary. But, up there on the silver screen, "Love is in the Air," and in the water, and in the cards, and pressed between the pages of book-adaptations.

The Edmonton Film Society's winter series kicks off February 8

with Rome-romance Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)—remade four times since—where the Eternal City's Baroque-style Trevi Fountain is a wishing-wellspring for love; an uncredited Frank Sinatra croons the title song. Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows (1955; Feb 22) sees a well-off widow (Jane Wyman) swoon for her younger gardener (Rock Hudson), a relationship that would crop up again in Todd Haynes' lush, Sirk-inspired Far from Heaven (2002).

Leap-daying back to Penny Serenade (1941) on Feb 29 means flashing back through the mind of Julie Adams (Irene Dunne) as she record-replays her marriage to Roger (Cary Grant).

Also from '41 is Preston Sturges' screwball classic The Lady Eve (Mar 7), with Barbara Stanwyck's conartist Jean Harrington falling for her mark, Charles Pike, (Henry Fonda), and trying to soft-baize-shield him from her card-sharp father.

Blake Edwards' famous 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's 1958 novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's (Mar 14), sees Audrey Hepburn go lightly

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Mondays, Feb 8 – Apr 11 (8 pm) Royal Alberta Museum $6 regular, $5 seniors/students, $30 series pass Schedule at royalalbertamuseum.ca/movies

in her iconic role, though the movie's marred by Mickey Rooney's eyelidstaped, bucktoothed Mr Yunioshi (a role he later regretted). Max Ophüls' take on Stefan Zweig's 1922 Vienna novella Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948; Mar 21) star-crosses Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan. Secluded war-romance The Enchanted Cottage (1945; Apr 4) flirts with fairy-tale. And closing out the series is Lauren Bacall's smoldering-like-aCuban-cigar debut—Bogart's "Baby" is first seen purring low, "Anyone got a match?"—in To Have and Have Not (1944; Apr 11), the noir-adaptation of Hemingway's Straits-of-Florida novel, reworked for the screen by William Faulkner.

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // DOCUMENTARY

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution P

ioneers or warriors or both? A "vanguard" leads the charge in a new movement, or at the head of an army. In its '60s culture wars, America saw a surfeit of activists, agitators and antagonists. But Stanley Nelson's The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution can't square the populism of a rising black-power movement (offices in 68 cities at its 1970 peak), its breakfast programs feeding 20 000 kids a week in 19 communities, with that movement's militancy: black-bereted, black leather-jacketed, shades-wearing men and women toting rifles and shotguns.

The documentary first emphasizes how complex the Black Panther Party was, then can't tightly thread its way through the group's contradictions and crises. The talkingheads interview approach can be stodgy. The Panthers' media-savvy and striking new look—a mass uprising of proud, politicized, coolly urban black men and women—does clearly emerge from the footage and photos here. But there's some skipping about and skimming over. The 1968 incident for which leader Huey Newton was charged—killing a policeman—is never closely examined.

The arrests and trial of the Panther 21 in NYC are rushed through. The macho-ness of the movement versus the party's appeal to women, the majority of the rank-and-file by 1970, is yet another intriguing element left for us to puzzle over.

Fri, Feb 5 – Tue, Feb 9 Directed by Stanley Nelson Metro Cinema at the Garneau  Four sections stand out: a survey of Emory Douglas' bold, thick-lined, expressive illustrations for the BPP's paper; Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" introducing us to police forces' and the FBI's targeting of the BPP; the build-up to and fallout from leader Fred Hampton's murder in Chicago, 1969; the Panthers' factionalized, internally combusting and FBI-fuelled collapse. The group's clashes with cops and Hoover's covert COINTELPRO campaign against it strikes a mournful note today in a US rife with police-shootings of black men, domestic terrorism and state surveillance.

Nelson's work, feeling more fragmented than kaleidoscopic, falls short of '60s-activist docs The Weather Underground (2002) or 1971 (2014). But sobering images (a Panther literally gagged in court; a blood-drenched mattress) and snippets of poetic insight linger: "We didn't get these brothers from revolutionary heaven"; "I was between contractions, flipping pancakes"; "This was a shoot-in—this wasn't a shootout."

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // FILM FEST

The Great Digital Film Fest S

ometimes you blow it. Sometimes a movie's theatrical run just isn't long enough to overcome your own lack of inertia. Excuses are made, thoughts are thought very hard about going ("that's a movie you simply have to see on a big screen," friends have been informed) but somehow, the moxy to get to the theatre and actually see it never arrives until it's too late to do so. The intended film experience is relegated to a much smaller screen when said film either arrives for purchase or hits the streaming services.

So you could then consider the Great Digital Film Fest a second chance at a big-screen experience you missed, or maybe weren't yet born to see, or just want to see again in the biggest possible format. Now in its seventh year, it's essentially a multicity movie marathon: for seven days, Cineplex Theatres will be screening a cavalcade of old and new cinema on its big screens throughout the day. In Edmonton, screenings are happening at the Scotiabank Theatre in West Edmonton Mall; all screenings are $6.99 too, a crisp-bill cheaper than the current competition.

The fest leaps from decade to decade: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is sandwiched between The Dark Crystal (1982) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984), in one example. This year seems to enjoy a particularly sci-fi throughline, though that's hardly the only genre on display. Here's the full list: Fri, Feb 5 Noon: Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan 2:20 pm: Beverly Hills Cop 4:30 pm: Serenity 7 pm: Inception 9:55 pm: Looper Sat, Feb 6 12:45 pm: Ghostbusters 3 pm: Big Trouble in Little China 5:10 pm: The Thing 7:30 pm: Mad Max: The Road Warrior 9:30 pm: Mad Max: Fury Road Sun, Feb 7 12:50 pm: The Dark Crystal 2:50 pm: Labyrinth 5 pm: Serenity 7:30 pm: Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan 9:50 pm: Star Trek: Into Darkness

Fri, Feb 5 – Thu, Feb 11 Scotiabank Theatre

Mon, Feb 8 1 pm: From Dusk Till Dawn 3:15 pm: True Romance 5:45 pm: Mad Max: The Road Warrior 7:45 pm: Dirty Harry 9:50 pm: Runaway Train Tue, Feb 9 12:40 pm: Labyrinth 2:55 pm: The Dark Crystal 5 pm: Mad Max: Fury Road 7:30 pm: Beverly Hills Cop 9:40 pm: Ghostbusters Wed, Feb 10 Noon: Looper 2:30 pm: Inception 5:30 pm: Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan 7:50 pm: Big Trouble in Little China 9:55 pm: The Thing Thu, Feb 11 12:25 pm: Runaway Train 2:45 pm: Dirty Harry 5 pm: Star Trek: Into Darkness 7:35 pm: True Romance 9:55 pm: From Dusk Till Dawn PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Labyrinth

FILM 21

FILM FILM // FESTIVAL

// Trent Wilkie

A scene from The Chickening

Chickens, parties and rumoured Uber helicopters What it's like to attend the 2016 Sundance Film Festival

T

his is the story of how I found myself at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Two friends created a proof-ofconcept video called The Chickening (The Shining but with more chickens). Nick Denboer (the old friend) and Davy Force (the new friend) were invited to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah because of this. They were nice enough to add me as an associate producer of the film. It is thusly that I Sundanced.

PC (as the locals call it) is very Albertan. Picture Canmore, but with smaller mountains that run right into the city. A ski bum's paradise, it is robust enough to have its population triple overnight.

After a few cancelled flights I found myself in PC on the night of January 22. I got in late and missed the festival première of The Chickening. This wasn't a big deal as there was going to be more viewings (it was part of the Midnight Shorts program). So, I took

22 FILM

to foot and made myself at home in the small city.

The people there were surprisingly kind. On top of that, local transportation was free. I found a pub called The Boneyard (no affiliation to the shitty tree song) and had a few beers while scanning the locals. They were clean, they were drunk, they were loud and they were huggy.

After meeting up with my friends for a soda, we hung out for a bit at an Uber promotional tent and made plans for the next day.

Fun fact: Uber was offering helicopter transportation before it was shut down by the city sheriff. Seems that the farmer's fields the helicopter was landing in weren't regulation landing pads, so the company had to cut out the shenanigans. Rumour was that it cost $150 per person and was very popular. All good things ...

I had a bunk at a hostel, the Chateau Apres Lodge. The air inside was hot and wet and smelled like forgotten

meat. During my first night, an Australian got into an argument with an Austrian for turning on all the lights at 4 am. The Austrian called the Australian an "old man" and the Australian called the Austrian an "only child." That morning, in the communal shower, I heard the Australian explaining the thematic symbolism of Futurama to a Russian. It was perfect.

Nick described the film festival as a social experiment where they try to stuff as many people into a small space centered by a pizza place. This is an exact description: I don't think I'd go to Sundance unless I had a badge, which got us into parties that had free food and beer—a bonus as the Canadian dollar was worth 68 cents to the American at the time. This saved my hoser ass.

Tickets to the films were hard to come by, but it wasn't only a film you got: the filmmakers were there as well to introduce and answer to

the show. At least to the films I saw: Rob Zombie's 31 (which I don't recommend) and Under the Shadow (which I very much do). But what really stood out to me were the short films.

I help run Metro Shorts, a quarterly film competition at the Garneau Theatre. In no way am I kidding when I say some of the shorts presented at Metro would rival the ones I saw at Sundance, and these were films that had donors and sponsors (like Adult Swim).

The sponsored parties were great.

There was always a bit of confusion when it came to getting in, but after flashing the festival badge, eventually someone would come and find your name on a list. But, there were always people who would stand in line and try to glom on to you in hopes of getting into said parties. This was amusing. One young lady stands out for yelling at the door woman, "You can kiss my Balkan ass!" I've since added this to my repertoire of insults.

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Having interviewed a lot of actors and musicians and politicians and celebrities, I don't get star struck. Finding yourself in conversations with people whose work you respect and recognize is wonderful. At the same time, you aren't chasing people down on the streets to get their picture.

In the end, on the last day, Nick and Davy and I holed ourselves up in their hotel room to do the public release of The Chickening. It was a social-medianerd bomb. We emailed, tweeted, retweeted and generally just laid around. We were partied out and business took over. The video went viral.

I think that will always be the Sundance Film Festival for me. Yes, we were there, but what the festival does is allow some nerds to succeed. No sponsors. No backing. Just some geeks with a good idea.

And they say Sundance isn't indie anymore.

TRENT WILKIE

TRENT@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ASPECTRATIO

BRIAN GIBSON // BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Dreams of a Life

Disappearing acts

Examining Carol Morley's portraits of a forgotten woman and a fitful teen-girlhood "It is all gone / and yet not dead" — James Dickey, "Falling" (1967) How material are we in our increasingly immaterial world? If you're a reclusive presence in this cyberspaceage, it can be easier to be forgotten.

So it went with Pia Farrenkopf, estranged from her family and seeing little of her neighbours by 2009; her virtual shadow—automated payments from a large bank account—finally retreated in 2013 to reveal her death, four years earlier. When her money ran out and mortgage payments stopped, a bank employee visited her house in Pontiac, Michigan, discovering her mummified corpse in her car in her garage.

Carol Morley's Dreams of a Life (2011) considers Joyce Carol Vincent (1965 – 2003). A seemingly "upwardly mobile" Londoner, the 38-year-old, estranged from her father and sisters, was found in her bedsit two years after dying there (of unknown causes).

As unrecognizable as she was—only identifiable by dental records—the gap between story and person makes her seem more unknown; truth and reality shimmer and snake away in this documentary. Even old friends didn't twig to her name in the papers because they couldn't equate their Joyce with that corpse, undetected for years in a North London flat.

How awfully, strangely death can void a personal identity (that "me,"

how we see ourselves—gone), with only others having pieced and patched it together, rightly and wrongly over the years (there's plenty of assumptions, unsure recollecting and speculation here). The filling-in of the chalk outline remains sketchy, as Morley— craftily offering re-creations and fragments of "evidence" (maps, period-music, flashes of the director's notes and reconstructed timeline)—well knows.

This docu-obituary's sharply aware of its own bit-ness, its partial-ness.

Morley's works tend to concern identity, absence—The Alcohol Years (2000) reconstructed her "lost period" as a drinking, wanton teen during the '80s Madchester scene—and absent parents: Morley's father committed suicide when she was 11; Vincent's mother died when she was 11; Lydia, in The Falling (2014), has no dad and an emotionally frigid mom (played by Morley-regular Maxine Peake). Morley's latest, The Falling slipped, unnoticed, onto disc here some months ago. It stars Maisie Williams as Lydia and Florence Pugh as the more experienced Abbie, fond classmates at a girls' school in 1969 when mass fainting erupts. (Morley researched cases of mass hysteria for a decade, from dancing manias in Renaissance Europe to a New York high school, 2011 – 2012, where girls twitched and fell. The vast majority of recorded cases involve women,

usually school-aged girls; repression and social tensions seem obvious undercurrents but Morley thinks belonging and empathy—to act out like others, you have to tune in—lie at the heart of such pack-behaviour.)

The title action is a brilliant metaphor for adolescence—as if the falling is the keening ache of trance-like adolescence itself, full of angst and anguish and the need to provoke adults, not to mention the panicked need to feel you're genuine, not phony. We're tumbled into an autumnal sense of ardent longing and attachment, the girls pregnant with romance, enraptured by Wordsworth's verse, and intrigued to know what "it" feels like, even as authority-figures frost classes over with strictness and severity ... all this in the looser, freer '60s (a decade of crazes, of Beatlemania).

Morley's poetic, docu-dramatic style—motifs of trees and hair; feverish flash-flurries of images—is undercut by the too-persistent score (not nearly as stirring as Dreams of a Life's song-interlude). The story's end is too modern and theatrical, but the sense of something in the air holds.

The girls, perhaps as tribute to a dead classmate, turn near-passivity into action: falling is rising up; swooning and dramatic fits are rebellious, mysterious, deliriously overwrought expressions of femininity. Presence and absence braid together. V

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FILM 23

MUSIC

MUSIC EDITOR: MEAGHAN BAXTER MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // KLEZMER-PUNK

IN SPITE OF IT ALL

Geoff Berner returns with an album of ways to cope with the world at large

'W

ell certainly, the science tells us that we're pretty much doomed," Geoff Berner states, a wry tone bracketing the words. "And of course, we haven't changed course in any way: in terms of our prediction of climatechanging gasses, the only debate we're having is about how fast we should move our demise forward."

He laughs there, at the incredulity of it all; not just climate change, but every bad idea that those in power continually make in the name of profit over people. And, well, fair enough: it's easy to take one look at the world at large and throw your hands up. But what you do with those hands—let them drop in defeat, or keep them raised in a defiant show of joy—matters too, and it's the latter choice that, despite everything, Berner's looking to put forward.

"You really do need strategies to keep functional," he continues, on the phone from a Montréal tourstop. "And in our culture, people seem to favour the 'don't worry, be happy' strategy. That's just not good enough for me. ... I'm looking for other strategies to combat despair, to cheer up, that don't involve insulting people's intelligence."

And so the klezmer-punk's latest album, We Are Going To Bremen To Be Musicians, is, effectively, a list of ways of doing that: from the housing-critique of Vancouver in "Condos" to the relationshipcelebrating "I Don't Feel So Mad At God When I See You In Your Summer Dress," each one exemplifies a different method of keeping your head up in heavy times, be it a thought process, a point of view, or an idea of what to keep close, all scored primarily by accordion, violin, drums and Berner's cheerfully cutting wit.

"You have to look to history and literature to see how other people remained functional and cheerful in confronting their own possible world-ending scenarios," he says.

"There's lots of great stuff to work with, beyond just saying the glass is half full."

// Frank Vena

Over

24 MUSIC

30 years of diverse and

Sat, Feb 6 (8 pm) With Jill Pollock DV8, $12 in advance, $15 at the door Bremen, which came out in 2015, marked Berner's first new music release in four years. His steadfast cycle of putting out an album about every two years was disrupted by his first book, Festival Man, following a strange, less-than-trustworthy promoter's attempts to get a band of strange musicians into a folk festival while staving off the egregious debts (financial or personal) he owes pretty much everyone he knows.

Technically, there was an album of Berner music that accompanied Festival Man as a download. But it was all other artists—from Corb Lund to Rae Spoon—covering his songs. And really, Festival Man didn't disrupt his touring cycle so much as his musical one. He still went on tour, just slinging the book rather than a new album.

"I just added some in-store bookstore dates, and a few writers' festivals. But apart from that, I sold half the books at bars," Berner laughs. "It's a great piece of merch: better than a T-shirt—same size fits everybody."

As he winds his way to Edmonton, for the first time in a long time, Berner won't be appearing solo here. He's bringing longtime album players Wayne Adams (percussion) and Diona Davies (violin) to up the amount of live ruckus he can make.

"Most of my shows lately have been solo things, and this is a chance to really do some klezmerpunk drunken dancing on a Saturday night," he says. I'm doing well enough that I can afford to bring them. These are the people who have been on pretty much every album of mine. They know my songs better than anybody. We've had some pretty good parties in some pretty strange places over the years. I really like the way we sound together."

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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PREVUE // PSYCH-POP

THIS WEEK IN MUSIC NOTES STRANGLED KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY

// Chris Apollo Lynn

The Bright Light Social Hour T

he southern United States are known for many things—topnotch barbecue and a rich musical history among them. But to the chagrin of many who call these places home, the south also has a notorious reputation for being somewhat backwards in its mentality. With that in mind, Austin-based psych-pop-rock group the Bright Light Social Hour has penned a love letter of sorts to the region on its latest album, Space Is Still The Place.

"It's just a place that gets so much attention, and a lot of it negative, that it's on the back end of progress," says vocalist and bassist Jack O'Brien, over the phone while spending a day off in Portland. "But we just love it so much ... everybody's so open and hospitable and generous and just [has] such a unique outlook ... the food, the culture, we all just really, really love. I guess we wanted a depiction of what it was we loved, what it was we hated about it and what it was we wished it could be mixed together in sounds."

What does his idyllic vision for the south include, exactly? Being mindful of the reasons behind traditions, for starters, and letting go of the ones that's aren't healthy or helpful to society.

"I think things like cooking, music, art, having an openness to people, a general trustingness, a positive outlook, helping those out around you—I think those are some of the things that make it really unique and positive," O'Brien notes.

The idea behind this egalitarian "Future South," as the band calls it, surfaced over the course of three years on the road following its self-titled debut in 2010. At the time, the Bright Light Social Hour couldn't afford hotel rooms, so the guys would bunk in with people wherever they could— often with strangers they met after shows who were hospitable enough to take them in. The byproduct was exposure to myriad walks of life, and the struggles young people were often burdened with.

"We would meet people that are ...

a little bit more creative, you know, [in] writing or design or a musician, things like that. Just very passionate and very intelligent and very ambitious, but they would have very dire financial circumstances to have to work several jobs, or just really not allowing themselves the time and the energy they wish that they could for their passions," O'Brien recalls.

"In our early days, that was us, and realizing how fortunate we were to be able to do it, to be able to afford to do it full-time, which is something.

So I just think a lot of the music is looking around and seeing those situations: not seeing young people in a better spot than they were in generations prior, and thinking about a future where maybe that isn't the case, that is a little bit easier to break out of that financial hamster wheel."

The Bright Light Social Hour is frequenting hotels more often than it is couch surfing these days, but O'Brien says the feeling he gets from travelling throughout the southern states

now is that financial situations are often less dire than they were from 2009 to 2011.

"I think some people are getting creative with solutions for how to figure things out," he notes. "Moving to places where there's better opportunities, or things like that. It's just sort of a natural things that kind of fluctuates, I think."

All of this is presented in a multilayered soundscape that moves from ethereal, dreamy pop on a track like "Dreamlove" (which has an accompanying video soon to be released) to southern-tinged guitar on "Sweet Madelene"—or even a combination of the two, depending on the song.

There are stylistic nods to the band's beloved home, but the album lands far from the tropes of traditional southern melodies. O'Brien says he and his bandmates felt there was a "big hole in music," particularly in Texas, where there was no middle ground between the masses of Stevie Ray Vaughan covers and acts whose music ostensibly bore no

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Fri, Feb 5 (9 pm) With Pyramid//Indigo, mirrim Brixx, $14

ties to the south. The result of that for the Bright Light Social Hour is a genre-bending journey that is often dubbed as psychedelic, a descriptor O'Brien feels is accurate, but perhaps not in the traditional sense of the word.

"I think the term 'psychedelic' has come to lose a lot of its meaning," he says. "To me, what that means is something that just maybe encourages thoughtful reflection, whereas I think psychedelic ... it's come to mean something more specific: a specific sound of the late '60s with a lot of delay and reverb on it, so I would say yeah [it is], in so far that it's meant to be something to stimulate thought and wonder."

MEAGHAN BAXTER

MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

MUSIC 25

MUSIC PREVUE // ALT-COUNTRY

Corb Lund

E

ALSO AVAILABLE ONLINE VUEWEEKLY.COM/MUSIC/EVENTS/

26 MUSIC

dmonton's country superstar Corb Lund has certainly made a name for himself singing lighthearted songs like "Truck Got Stuck" and "Roughest Neck Around." Along with his A-team band, the Hurtin' Albertans, the Juno Award-winning cowboy has produced nine albums and secured a rather substantial following as a country icon around Canada, the US and parts of Europe.

What separates Lund from his genre contemporaries is that his sound is not strictly country, but a melting pot of styles spanning folk, rock, jazz and even punk. But it all makes sense if you dig into Lund's past.

"The western stuff is pretty deeply ingrained in me," Lund says.

"While I did listen to other music, I grew up with country and it never really left."

He certainly took a distinctive approach with his latest record, Things That Can't Be Undone. While the album still has catchy and jocular country songs like "Washed-Up Rock Star Factory Blues," others like "S Lazy H," "Weight Of The Gun" and "Alice Eyes" seem much more sombre than his previous work.

"It wasn't on purpose," Lund notes.

"I went through a bunch of loss and family death in my life. It was kind of a dark and hairy period when I was writing it."

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Sat, Feb 6 (8 pm) Jubilee Auditorium, $32.50 – $45 Growing up as a rancher in Taber, AB, Lund never imagined his success in the country-music world would be on its current scale.

"If you really sit down and think about it, the whole thing seems pretty far-fetched," he says. "To succeed in the arts you have to work hard, have a focused vision and kind of put the blinders on and not let anyone tell you the odds."

Lund believes that in the music industry, especially the country realm, too many artists just sit and wait until something happens— maybe a producer or a manager hears them, thinks they're the next Willie Nelson or Patsy Cline, and picks them up for a record deal.

This does happen sometimes, but the chances are often very minimal.

"My whole kind of approach has been just DIY since day one," Lund explains. "You know, go on tour, make your own T-shirts and drive your own van. All that shit. Just making it happen. That might be why I'm only a cultish singer instead of a huge rock star, but I'm happy, because I get to call all the shots."

STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT STEPHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // BLUES

Fri, Feb 5 (8 pm) With Kat Danser St Basil's Cultural Centre, $18 in advance, $22 at the door

Cécile Doo-Kingué B

lues artists always seem to gravitate towards the standard 12-bar style of the genre, but this is not the case with Cécile Doo-Kingué. No, the Montréaler's sound—a combination of soul, blues, Afro-beat and a voice that could rival Nina Simone's—is much more diverse.

Doo-Kingué is a born-and-raised New Yorker who started her musical career in Montréal after relocating there with her family. She picked up the guitar, fell in love with the instrument, and her brother eventually introduced her to some of the blues greats, ranging from Freddie King to T-Bone Walker.

"My brother's introduction to that style started a love affair that still goes strong now," Doo-Kingué says.

Over a span of 20 years, Doo-Kingué has picked bits and pieces from a plethora of influences to add to her music. No matter how many different genre artists she's been inspired by, her music always reflects the raw power and emotion of the blues.

"To me, it's the purest form of music to express the human condition," DooKingué says.

Her newest record, Dialogues, is the second part of a trilogy called Anybody Listening. Each part of the trilogy consists of new and older tunes to show the transformation of Doo-

Kingué's music. The upcoming third instalment of the trilogy will be called Communion and features a planned live-audience element. Communion is still in the works, and Doo-Kingué is unsure whether the album will feature one full live concert or bits and pieces from a variety of her shows.

Doo-Kingué writes songs in both French and English. Even though she is bilingual, this use of both languages was not a conscious choice.

"I don't fight which language the lyrics come out in," Doo-Kingué says.

"With the blues, it's a style set to associate to English because it's American music. I find that French works with a lot more of my softer songs."

As a female musician, Doo-Kingué is still subject to the sexism in male-centric industry. But rather than let it get her down, she lets her authentic guitar prowess and lyrics do the talking. "[Being a female musician] is a great position to fry brains and show them that there is no difference," DooKingué says.

One aspect that shines on through her music is the message. Sometimes the message is simply to enjoy life even though it seems bleak as heard on songs like "Little Bit." At other times, the song can be used as a form

of social commentary, like on "Bloodstained Vodka," which was inspired by the homophobic legislation Russian President Vladimir Putin passed to ban gay propaganda during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in Russia.

"While I use my lyrics as an exorcism for what's bugging me, I also use them to remind myself that life is beautiful."

STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT STEPHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

// Terry Hughes

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MUSIC 27

MUSIC PREVUE // PUNK

// Greg Gallinger

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28 MUSIC

Propagandhi O

ne of Canada's most storied punk bands is about to emerge yet again from the relative calm and cold blanketing its hometown of Winnipeg to take on Western Canada. In an assured flurry of elbows and Noam Chomsky quotes, Propagandhi is back and, as always, there will be no quarter.

Formed in 1986, Propagandhi has burned a trail of sociopolitical commentary through the hardcore souls of punks around the world. With six studio albums in the bag, 2016 marks 30 years of being the nail that sticks up— with no sign of being hammered down.

"True sadness and horror at the injustice in the world," Todd Kowalski says of what continues to inspire his songwriting. "If I'm not motivated and not worried about that, I've actually become exactly what I did not want: as soon as I stop, I've lost my own battle with life."

Through its history, Propagandhi has seen two major lineup changes. The first came in 1996 following the release of Less Talk More Rock, when thenbassist and co-vocalist John K Samson departed the group to form the Weakerthans. Samson was replaced by friend of the band and former I SPY bassist, Todd "the Rod" Kowalski. His membership signaled a shift from the skate-punk styling of Propagandhi's record label at the time, Fat Wreck Chords, (run by NOFX frontman Fat Mike) towards a hardcore esthetic akin to Corrosion of Conformity and MDC. The second change occurred in 2006 when David "Space Beaver" Guillas

joined as the second guitarist, rounding out the lineup as four-piece. But Guillas shot himself into orbit in late 2015 to pursue a career in education, leaving the guitarist slot open and presumably a pile of chucked wood behind.

Perhaps to satisfy the whims of an ancient pagan god, or by complete coincidence, in the band's third 10-yearcycle lineup change, Propagandhi welcomed guitarist Sulynn Hago, a native of Florida, into the fold on September 30, 2015.

Hago responded to an open ad, placed on the band's website that read: "Do you play guitar? Are you familiar with our music? Have you felt like you've been living in a dingbat-clownidiot society since you were a little kid and always hoped your real parents from Rigel 7 would come rescue you?

Well, then get at us ASAP! Women are strongly encouraged to apply!"

Over 400 potential skidrow sixstring jockeys attempted to make the grade, but Kowalski admits the choice was an easy one.

"You can tell she just lives for music," Kowalski says. "We wanted someone who's really going to rock it up.

"She has a lot of exploration and depth to her playing." Kowalski adds, though it was the chemistry the band members felt with Hago that made them decided to pull the trigger. "She was just like us. She's into even more obscure bands than us."

When Propagnadhi crashes through Edmonton next week, it will be to

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Tue, Feb 9 With Slates, Strangled Starlite Room, Sold out the tune of songs like " ... And We Thought Nation States Were A Bad Idea," "Fuck the Border" and the incredibly unsettling "Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)."

Given the content of these songs and the band's very identifiable support for social, human- and animalrights causes, it's clear that 30 years has not mellowed the crusaders from the Peg. But in the execution of these songs, which span the band's existence, a clear shift in approach can be seen—and therein comes a very human and vulnerable truth.

"When you're young, you write songs and it makes sense to say them like that," Kowalski says, referencing the crass, straight-forward style of Propagandhi's first two albums. "As you get older, all these extra voices come into your head that make it harder.

"People like us, from smaller places," he continues. "I feel I can empathize with everyone—I have uncles that have a factory farm, that are hunters, that are alcoholics, that have died from alcoholism—straight across the gamut [there are] racist people, people being jerks, people being nice, people that work for chemical companies, how do you navigate all that? It's sad and crazy."

SHAWN BERNARD

SHAWN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // FOLK

karaoke THURSDAYS

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presents // Jordan Janisse

Roger Roger M

adeleine and Lucas Roger have always been bound by the uncanny connection that comes with being twins, but they also lived separate lives: she travelled and studied theatre while he fronted a rock band and rebuilt old hot-rods. Though each is a songwriter in their own right, Madeleine and Lucas never intended to form a band together, let alone release an album and head out on tour.

The Winnipeg-based duo, now known as Roger Roger, often sang together at family gatherings, but that was the extent of their combined musical endeavours until Lucas heard Madeleine playing some of her original material.

"The conversation wasn't, 'Hey, do you want to start a band together and record an album and go out on tour together?' It was just, 'Hey, do you want to teach me the songs that you've written and should we book one show?'" Madeleine explains over the phone from Regina, with Lucas patched in on another line. "So that's what we ended up doing: we learned a bunch of each other's songs and then we played a show, and then from there we kept booking more. It really was an accident."

And while spending a lengthy stretch of time on the road with one's sibling would be disastrous for some, it seems to be going smoothly—"We're only on day two, so we'd be in trouble if it wasn't going well so far," Lucas says with a soft laugh.

"We're pretty used to spending a lot

of time together, so we'll be fine."

The pair is touring in support of their debut album, Fairweather, a polished listen that displays Madeleine and Lucas's individual writing styles: Madeleine's theatre background lends itself well to writing folk songs that blend elements of real life with quirky fictional characters, while Lucas gravitates towards heavier rock sounds reflecting on the human experience. But Fairweather also manages to find common ground between the two and maintain a sense of cohesiveness.

"The album covers quite a spectrum of genre influences, and I think that comes because of our varying taste and the music that we listen to separately," Madeleine explains, noting Tom Petty, the Band, Kathleen Edwards, Sarah Harmer and Joel Plaskett as shared influences for she and Lucas. "In all likelihood, if Lucas were to make a solo album it would probably be pretty rock-influenced, and for me if I were to do a solo album it would likely be quite a bit more folk-oriented, without as many electric instruments. I'm really happy we got the chance to experiment with both of our comfort zones and find an in-between."

"I think on the album we both have songs that are very relaxed, in-depth folk songs as well as both having songs that are kind of rock 'n' roll songs, so there is some crossover there between the two of us," Lucas adds.

Thu, Feb 4 (7:30 pm) Cafe Blackbird, $6

For now, they each write separately—Lucas tends to disappear into the basement to compose music while Madeleine's process is more sporadic, often taking place while she's in transit—but the idea of collaborating one day doesn't appear to be out of the question.

Roger Roger kept the production of Fairweather in the family, too. Their father, producer and musician Lloyd Peterson, was the natural choice for the duo, having spent most of their lives watching him work and countless hours discussing music together.

"We just knew that his approach to capturing songs and to helping creativity flourish in the studio was going to work really well for our project," Madeleine says. "We have very similar ideas of how we like an album to sound, so it was a no-brainer that we were going to work with him. We like instruments to sound straight-up ... we're writing songs that are stories and where the lyrics are at the forefront. We don't want a lot of effects or anything; we just want the instruments to sound like the instruments that they are, but to capture them in a beautiful way."

MEAGHAN BAXTER

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MUSIC 29

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he name Motorbike James can conjure up images of leather vests and barroom brawls, rock 'n' roll at its greasiest and most primal. So it's a little jarring to hear the shimmering neon synth-lines that open the Fire Tiger EP, Michael James' five-song offer-

ing from 2014. But the moniker Motorbike James was an obvious choice for a bike mechanic by trade, and a long-time rider and enthusiast.

"I very much love motorcycles," James explains. "I grew up riding, so Motorbike James felt natural as an alias."

Any downside to the name?

"Everyone thinks my name is James, but I never really care to correct them on it," he laughs. "But I was raised on rock 'n' roll and motorbikes. The band is not necessarily a grinding rock unit in your typical sense, but it embodies that spirit—just having a damn good time. That's been the credo of this project since the beginning, to have fun jamming. I just want this music to be fun for all parties involved."

James didn't have to look far to put together a band, with access to a pool of talented friends as well as bandmates from his other projects.

The roster of Motorbike James has evolved to its current lineup with Julie Adams (Unwed Mothers) on keys and vocals, Daniel Carriere (James' bandmate in Royal Tusk) on bass and vocals, and Tasy Hudson (Consilience) on drums.

"I've got new tunes in the works, and I'm always writing," James says.

"I'll start tracking for a new record soon. My timeline is very directly related to the amount of inspiration in my life. The songs evolve alongside my own evolution as an artist.

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

Sat, Feb 6 (9 pm) With Dagan Harding and RV Farms The Almanac, $12 I've never promoted this project very aggressively—not because I don't believe in it, but because I find selfpromotion to be the most unpleasant part of being an artist. Or maybe I'm just lazy."

But his work in putting together Fire Tiger dispels any notion of laziness, with an album's worth of material being written, recorded and essentially scrapped as part of the process.

"I had a studio set up in my grandma's basement for a number of years, and I would write and record nonstop," James explains. "I had a pretty cohesive sound going, so I decided to put together a record. I came up with more than enough songs for a full-length, but I tend to sit on songs for a while, which often leads to me becoming uninspired on the tunes.

With Fire Tiger, it worked out like a screening process. The songs that I continued to feel stoked about would survive, and I narrowed it down to the five that made the cut. They seemed cohesive to me, albeit being very different from one another."

JAMES STEWART

JAMES@VUEWEEKLY.COM

MUSIC

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JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

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ARCADIA BAR Up The Arca-

THE COMMON The Common

Edmonton's best solo musicians

dia Jam; 1st and 3rd Thu of each month; 9-10:30pm; Free

Uncommon Thursday: Rotating Guests each week

ON THE ROCKS Heather Mckenzie Band

DRUID IRISH PUB Tap Into

ARDEN THEATRE Vijay Gupta; 7:30pm; $40 (adv)

Thursdays; DJ and party; 9pm

PALACE CASINO Colleen Rae

& Cornerstone; 9:30pm

ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL Open

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Hendriks; 9pm SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

Brother Ray Lemelin Blues Band (blues); 9pm; No minors

Y AFTERHOURS Freedom

Fridays

SAT FEB 6 9910 Feel Alright (alt/ pop/rock) with Susan and Golden Years; 8pm; $10 (adv), $12 (door) THE ALMANAC Vue Weekly Presents: Motorbike James

with Dagan Harding and RV Farms (perfect modern, poppy rock); 8pm (door), 9pm (show); $12; 18+ only APEX CASINO The Orchard;

9pm ARCADIA BAR Mohsin

Zaman; 9pm; $10 ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL

Jimmy Whiffen; 8pm BAILEY THEATRE–CAMROSE

Jeff Lang; 8pm; $25, $15 (students) BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Hair

of the Dog: G.W. Myers (live acoustic music every Sat); 4-6pm; no cover

9pm

SHERLOCK HOLMES– DOWNTOWN Mark

ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL

Mcgarrigle (folk); 9pm

Jimmy Whiffen; 8pm

SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Rosie and the Riveters; 8:3010:30pm; $20

Stan Gallant (rock); 9pm

BLUE CHAIR CAFE Brad Bucknell and the oHNo band with special guest opener Duff Robison; 8-10:30pm; $10

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Steadies; 9pm

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Rage; 9pm

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House, Hip-Hop with DJ Babr; every Fri THE BOWER Strictly Goods: Old school and new school hip hop & R&B with DJ Twist, Sonny Grimez, and Marlon English; every Fri

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THE COMMON Quality Control Fridays with DJ Echo & Freshlan

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FILTHY MCNASTY'S

Fri; 9pm MERCER TAVERN

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Woodhead with Remo de Janeiro, Travis Mateeson and DPM; 8pm; $5 (door)

BERNARD SNELL AUDITORIUM Hear's To Your

FIONN MACCOOL'S– DOWNTOWN The Rural

Health; 5-6pm; Free HORIZON STAGE Rosie and

Routes (folk/roots/world); 7pm; No minors

the Riveters; 2pm; $25; All ages

EL CORTEZ Kys the Sky (DJ

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Carmen

Set); 9pm; No minors

with Withermoon and Splendid Sun; 8pm; 18+ only

Club: Cécile Doo-Kingué Trio with Kat Danser; 7pm (door), 8pm (show); $18 (adv), $22 (door)

Classical

Jordan; 9pm

SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

ST. BASIL'S CULTURAL CENTRE New Moon Folk

music every Fri: this week with Jon Shea (folk); all ages; 7pm; $5 (door)

(jazz); most Thursdays; 7-10pm Kareoke Thursdays with JR; Every Thu, 9pm-1am

LB'S PUB The Tomatoes

(blues); 9pm LEAF BAR AND GRILL Live

music; 9:30pm MERCURY ROOM Alleviate

with Desperado Pilotsand Limits of Reversal, Webster; 8pm; $10 (adv), $15 (door) MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Live Local Bands

every Sat; this week: Jason Greeley NEW WEST HOTEL Early:

Saturday Country Jam (country); Every Sat, 3pm • Later: Doug & The Hurtin Horsemen ON THE ROCKS Heather Mckenzie Band PALACE CASINO Colleen Rae & Cornerstone; 9:30pm PARKVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Northern Lights Folk

Club featuring: Catherine McLellan + Chris Trapper; 7pm (doors), 8pm (show); $20 (adv), $25 (door, if available)

Saturday Electric Blues Jam with Rotten Dan and Sean Stephens (blues); Every Sat, 2pm; No minors • Later: Brother Ray Lemelin Blues Band (blues); 9pm; No minors

northlands.com

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10

MERCURY ROOM Shame

JUBILEE AUDITORIUM Corb Lund with guests; 8pm

Hendriks; 9pm

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

Every Thu, 7-11pm

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10

SHAKERS ROADHOUSE Early:

Thu, 7:30pm; Free

LIZARD LOUNGE Jam Night;

3-7pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

SANDS INN & SUITES Karac

HUMMINGBIRD BISTRO CAFE Bistro Jazz; Every

hosted by Darrell Barr; 7-11pm

GAS PUMP Saturday Jam;

MotorHezbollah, King Ring Nancy, Danger Pay

FILTHY MCNASTY’S Wet Your

L.B.'S PUB Open Jam

Plot (folk/roots/world); 8pm; No minors

RENDEZVOUS PUB

Circle Jam; 7:30-11:30pm

Open stage with host Naomi Carmack; 8pm every Thu

FIONN MACCOOL'S– DOWNTOWN The Grimsen

each week with a different band each week; 9pm Shimoni (country/rock); 9pm; $10 (door) BRIXX BAR Sparrow Blue, Forbidden Rhythm, Fingertips and Catch the Day Dreamer; 9pm (door), 9:30pm (show); $15; 18+ only CAFE BLACKBIRD Marty

Hope; 8pm; $6 CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK

Radio Active; 8pm CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Sat

Open mic; 7pm; $2 CASK AND BARREL Jake Ian (alt/folk) 4pm; No cover DOW CENTENNIAL CENTRE

Moon vs. Sun featuring Raine Maida (alt/folk/punk) and Chantal Kreviazuk; 7:30pm; $64 (adult), $59 (youth/senior) DRAFT COUNTRY NIGHTCLUB

Cadillac Junkies (country); 9:30pm; $5 (after 9pm); No minors DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

Doug Stroud (country/pop/ rock); 9pm DV8 Geoff Berner (feat.

Wayne Adams & Diona Davies) + Jill Pollock (metal hard rock/punk); 8pm; $12 (adv), $15 (door); No minors

Movement Fridays; 8pm • Hip Hop Friday; 8pm

EMPRESS ALE HOUSE Joe Nolan (alt/blues/folk) and The Dogs; 4pm; No cover

THE PROVINCIAL PUB Friday

FESTIVAL PLACE All Neil, All

Nights: Video Music DJ; 9pm-2am

FILTHY MCNASTY'S

SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

Artzy Flowz: featuring DJs and artists teaming up; 9pm

Night (pop/rock); 7:30pm Sh!t$how Saturdays: Free afternoon concerts. This week featuring: Lutra Lutra with guests River & Castle; 4pm; No cover

SHERLOCK HOLMES– DOWNTOWN Mark

Mcgarrigle (folk); 9pm SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

Stan Gallant (rock); 9pm SHERLOCK HOLMES–WEM

Andrew Scott (alt/country); 9pm SNEAKY PETE'S Sinder

Sparks K-DJ Show; 9pm-1am STUDIO 96 Tapas and Tunes;

7pm (door); $65 TWIST ULTRA LOUNGE Mikey

Wong and his lineup of guest DJs UNION HALL Adventure

Club; 9pm; $45 and up; 18+ only YARDBIRD SUITE The André Wickenheiser Quintet: The Music of Clifford Brown; 7pm (door), 8pm (show); $20 (guest), $24 (guest)

Classical MUTTART HALL Tariq Harb

(classical guitar); 8-10pm; $20 (regular), $25 (student/ senior/member) TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH

Trinity Lutheran Syrian Refugee Sponsorship Benefit Concert: featuring the Chronos Vocal Ensemble and Celtara; 6:30-9:30pm; Admission by donation WINSPEAR CENTRE The

Barra Macneils; 8pm; $24-$93

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: The Menace Sessions with Miss Mannered featuring Alt. Rock/Electro/Trash; Wooftop: Sound It Up! with DJ Sonny Grimezz spinning classic Hip-Hop and Reggae; Underdog: Hip Hop open Mic followed by DJ Marack

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

MUSIC 31

THE BOWER For Those Who Know...: Deep House and disco with Junior Brown, David Stone, Austin, and guests; every Sat

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

from CJSR's Heavy Metal Lunchbox

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10

BLUES ON WHYTE

THE COMMON Get Down It's Saturday Night: House and disco and everything in between with Wright & Wong, Dane

Starrwith Olivia Rose Leafand Justine Vandergrift; 7pm; $10 (adv), $12 (door); 18+ only

DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every

FEB/5 FEB/9

UBK, NIGHT VISION, AND DIRTYBIRD PRESENT

BILLY KENNY & WILL CLARKE PROPAGANDHI CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

W/ SLATES & STRANGLED

FEB/10

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

TRIVIUM

W/ THE ORDER OF CHAOS & GUESTS

FEB/13

UNIONEVENTS.COM PRESENTS

YUKON BLONDE W/ ON AN ON

FEB/26

UNIONEVENTS.COM PRESENTS

CRADLE OF FILTH

W/ BUTCHER BABIES & NE OBLIVISCARIS

FEB/27

BC/DC

UNIONEVENTS.COM & STARLITE ROOM PRESENT

IAN FLETCHER THORNLEY STARLITE ROOM & NOISEY PRESENT

BLACK TUSK & HOLY GRAIL

W/ GUESTS

MAR/18

Wong every Sat THE PROVINCIAL PUB

Saturday Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJ Maurice; 9pm-2am SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

REAL MCKENZIES W/ BOIDS & MORE

THE STARLITE ROOM IS A PRIVATE VENUE FOR OUR MEMBERS AND THEIR GUESTS. IF YOU REQUIRE A MEMBERSHIP YOU CAN PURCHASE ONE AT THE VENUE PRIOR TO / OR AFTER THE DOOR TIMES FOR EACH SHOW.

NAKED CYBERCAFE & ESPRESSO BAR Black &

Bleu (alt/electronic/pop) with The Metronomad and Omar; 7pm; $6 (adv), $9 (door) NEWCASTLE PUB The

Sunday Soul Service: acoustic open stage every Sun

Psyturdays: various DJs; 9pm

O’BYRNE’S Open mic every

SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM

OLIVER HALL Bros Of The

Sun; 9:30pm Snow Tour: Living With Lions (pop/punk/rock) with Youth Decay and Dangercat; 7:30pm; $10 (door)

Swing Dance Party: Sugar Swing Dance Club every Sat, 8-12; no experience or partner needed, beginner lesson followed by social dance; sugarswing.com

Matthews

TAVERN ON WHYTE Soul,

RICHARD'S PUB Mark

Motown, Funk, R&B and more with DJs Ben and Mitch; every Sat; 9pm-2am Y AFTERHOURS Release

Saturdays

SUN FEB 7 Songbook Sunday; 2pm; Free

W/ CHRIS CADDELL

MAR/12

MERCER TAVERN DJ Mikey

BAILEY THEATRE–CAMROSE STARLITE ROOM PROUDLY PRESENTS

W/ DAMAGE INC., THRILLHOUSE, THE DEVIL’S SONS

MAR/10

Sat; 9pm

MERCURY ROOM Belle

BLUE CHAIR CAFE Brunch:

Hawaiian Dreamers; 9am3pm; By donation BLUES ON WHYTE The

Steadies; 9pm BOHEMIA Strange Charm

ON THE ROCKS Darryl

FILTHY MCNASTY'S

Breakfast - DJs, Broken Beats & Breakfast featuring Zac Attack with Beat Burglar and Drkwtr; 11am; $5 (door) HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH Once Upon a Trio in

the West; 3pm; $16.75-$22

7pm; $45 FIDDLER'S ROOST Open

Stage; 7-11pm FILTHY MCNASTY'S Classic

7pm; $45 DRUID IRISH PUB Open

Stage Tue: featuring this week: The Honey Cowboy; 9pm FIDDLER'S ROOST Fiddle

Jam Circle; 7:30-11:30pm

Rock Monday

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Filthy

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

GAS PUMP Karaoke;

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10 ON THE ROCKS Killer

Karaoke Monday PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Wild Rose Old Tyme

Fiddlers Association: Acoustic instrumental old time fiddle jam every Mon; hosted by the Wild Rose Old Tyme Fiddlers Society; 7pm

Bingo! Tuesdays 9:30pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10 KELLY'S PUB Open Stage:

featuring host Naomi Carmack and guest; 9pm; No cover L.B.'S PUB Tue Variety Night

Monday's; 8-11pm

O’BYRNE’S Guinness Celtic

SANDS INN & SUITES Open

SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

Jam; Every Sun, 7-11pm SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

Pete Turland's Rockabilly Mondays Open Stage (rock/ pop/indie); Every Mon, 8pm; All ages

Sunday BBQ Jam Every Sunday hosted by the Marshall Lawrence Band (variety); Every Sun, 5pm; All ages

SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

Classical

SIDELINERS PUB Singer/

CITY HALL Swing 'N'

Skate; 1-4pm; Every Sun until Feb 28 MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH The King's

WINSPEAR CENTRE High

DV8 Whats Love got to do with it? (metal/hard rock/ punk); 8pm; $10; 18+ only

CAFE BLACKBIRD Paint Nite;

CAFE BLACKBIRD Paint Nite;

Open stage with Darrell Barr; 7-11pm; No charge

DANCE CODE STUDIO

Night Live on the South Side: live bands; Free; All ages; 7-10:30pm

With Lions with guests Fire Next Time, Youth Decay and Danger Cat; 8pm; $10; 8pm (door); 18+ only

RED PIANO BAR Swingin'

Singers; 7:30pm; $42 and up

DIVERSION LOUNGE Sun

THE BUCKINGHAM Living

Ammar's Sunday Sessions Jam; Every Sun, 4-8pm

with guest Barny; 6pm; $8 Flamenco Guitar Classes; Every Sun, 11:30am12:30pm

Funkafeelya; 9pm

Scrambled YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every TueFri, 5-8pm

School Honour Band; 3pm; $20 (adult), $15 (senior), $10 (student), free (kids 3 and under)

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Soul Sundays with DJ Zyppy ~ A fantastic voyage through 60’s and 70’s funk, soul & R&B; Every Sun

MON FEB 8 BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Blue Jay’s Messy

Nest with DJ Blue Jay mod, brit pop, new wave, British rock; Wooftop: Metal Mondays with Metal Phil

Open Mic Night hosted by Adam Holm; Every Mon Songwriter Monday Night Open Stage; Hosted by Celeigh Cardinal; Every Mon (except long weekends), 8:30-11:30pm; Free SNEAKY PETE'S Cat's Meow

Monday Jam with hosts Bob Cook & Sinder Sparks; Every Mon, 8pm until midnight

jam every Tue; 9:30pm ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE Live music

with the Icehouse Band and weekly guests; Every Tue, 9pm SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

TUE FEB 9 BLUES ON WHYTE

Funkafeelya; 9pm BRITTANY'S LOUNGE

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Mother

Cluckin’ Wednesdays GAS PUMP Karaoke;

9:30pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Michael Jackson

Is: Back From the Future; runs until Apr 10 KRUSH ULTRALOUNGE

Karaoke Kraziness with host Ryan Kasteel; 8pm2am PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic Bluegrass

jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society; Guests and newcomers always welcome; every Wed, 7pm; $2 (donation, per person), free coffee available THE PROVINCIAL PUB

Karaoke Wednesday RED PIANO BAR Wed Night

Live: hosted by dueling piano players ROSSDALE HALL Little

Flower Open Stage since 1998; 8-11pm (door); no cover/donations

STARLITE ROOM Trivium with the Order of Chaos & All Else Fails; 7pm (door); $28.99; 18+ only

DJs

9pm

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Classical

Tuesday

TAVERN ON WHYTE Classic Hip hop with DJ Creeazn every Mon; 9pm-2am

open mic with host Duff Robison; 8pm

YARDBIRD SUITE Tuesday Session: Tom Van Seters Quintet; 7:30pm (door)/8pm (show); $5

DJs Main Floor: Blue Jay’s Messy Nest with DJ Blue Jay mod, brit pop, new wave, British rock

Wednesdays DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Wed

SHAKERS ROADHOUSE

Main Floor: Eddie Lunchpail spins alternative retro and not-so-retro, electronic & euro; Every Tue

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

DRUID IRISH PUB Karaoke

Tuesday Night Jam with host Harry Gregg and Geoffrey O'Brien (blues); Every Tue, 7:30pm; All ages

Propagandhi with Slates & Strangled; 8pm (door); $26; 18+ only

STARLITE ROOM

their creations • Every TueFri, 5-8pm

ON THE ROCKS Turn't Up

WED FEB 10

Wailin' Wednesday Jam with Hosts Wang Dang Doodle (variety); Every Wed, 7:30-11:30pm; All ages

TAVERN ON WHYTE Karaoke;

MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH Music Wednesdays At Noon: David G. Brown

(solo guitar); 12:1012:50pm; Free

DJs

Every Wed

BILLIARD CLUB Why wait Wednesdays: Wed night party with DJ Alize every Wed; no cover

BLUES ON WHYTE Kenny

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: DJ Kevin Martin;

Blues Boss Wayne; 9pm

Main Floor: DJ Kevin Martin;

BRITTANY'S LOUNGE

Every Wed

Scrambled YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share

DV8 TAVERN DV8 Karaoke

Crew Wednesday (electronic/dance); Every Wed, 6pm; No minors

VENUEGUIDE

FEB/5

JCL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

FEB/6

VOODO CHILDREN PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR

SPARROW BLUE W/ FORBIDDEN RHYTHM, FINGERTIPS, & CATCH THE DAY DREAMER

FEB/12

THE INTROVERTS

W/ DEBUTANT, THE HUSTLE, ZOEY ZAPISOCKI

FEB/13

STARLITE ROOM & BRIXX ARE PROUD TO PRESENT

MODERN SPACE W/ GUESTS THE DEN & MORE

FEB/26

STARLITE ROOM IS PROUD TO PRESENT

HEAVISIDE

W/ THE UNFORTUNATES & SLEEP DEMON

32 MUSIC

9910 9910B-109 St NW, 780.709.4734, 99ten.ca ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE 8223-104 St, 780.431.0179 ARCADIA BAR 10988-124 St, 780.916.1842, arcadiayeg.com ARDEN THEATRE 5 St Anne St, St Albert, 780.459.1542, stalbert.ca/ experience/arden-theatre THE ALMANAC 10351-82 Ave, 780.760.4567, almanaconwhyte. com ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL 7704 Calgary Trail South, 780.432.4611, atlantictrapandgill.com BAILEY THEATRE 5041-50 St, Camrose, 780. 672.5510, baileytheatre.com BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 1042582 Ave, 780.439.1082 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ 9624-76 Ave, 780.989.2861 BLUES ON WHYTE 10329-82 Ave, 780.439.3981 BOHEMIA 10217-97 St BOURBON ROOM 205 Carnegie Dr, St Albert THE BOWER 10538 Jasper Ave, 780.423.425; info@thebower.ca BRITTANY'S LOUNGE 10225-97 St, 780.497.0011 BRIXX BAR 10030-102 St (downstairs), 780.428.1099 THE BUCKINGHAM 10439 82 Ave, 780.761.1002, thebuckingham.ca CAFE BLACKBIRD 9640-142 St NW, 780.451.8890, cafeblackbird.ca CAFÉ HAVEN 9 Sioux Rd, Sherwood Park, 780.417.5523, cafehaven.ca CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK 99,

23349 Wye Rd, Sherwood Park CARROT COFFEEHOUSE 9351118 Ave, 780.471.1580 CASINO EDMONTON 7055 Argylll Rd, 780.463.9467 CASINO YELLOWHEAD 12464153 St, 780.424 9467 CASK AND BARREL 10041104 St; 780.498.1224, thecaskandbarrel.ca CENTRAL SENIOR LIONS CENTRE 11113-113 St CENTURY CASINO 13103 Fort Rd, 780.643.4000 CHA ISLAND TEA CO 10332-81 Ave, 780.757.2482 COMMON 9910-109 St CONVOCATION HALL Old Arts Building, University of Alberta, music.ualberta.ca DOW CENTENNIAL CENTRE 8700-84 St, Fort Saskatchewan, 780.992.6400, fortsask.ca DRAFT COUNTRY NIGHT CLUB 12912-50 St NW, 780.371.7272, draftbargrill.com DRUID 11606 Jasper Ave, 780.454.9928 DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY 9013-88 Ave, 780.465.4834 DV8 8130 Gateway Blvd EL CORTEZ 10322-83 Ave NW, elcortezcantina.com FESTIVAL PLACE 100 Festival Way, Sherwood Park, 780.449.3378 FIDDLER'S ROOST 7308-76 Ave, 780.439.9788, fiddlersroost.ca FILTHY MCNASTY’S 10511-82 Ave, 780.916.1557 FIONN MACCOOL'S–DOWNTOWN 10200-102 Ave

VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

HILLTOP PUB 8220 106 Ave HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH 10037-84 Ave NW, 780.433.5530, holytrinity.ab.ca HORIZON STAGE 1001 Calahoo Rd, Spruce Grove, 780.962.8995, horizonstage.com HUMMINGBIRD BISTRO CAFE 8336-160 Ave, 780.401.3313, hummingbirdbistro.ca IRISH SPORTS CLUB 12546-126 St, 780.453.2249 J AND R 4003-106 St, 780.436.4403 JUBILEE AUDITORIUM 1145587 Ave NW, 780.427.2760, jubileeauditorium.com KELLY'S PUB 10156-104 St NW, 780.451.8825, kellyspubedmonton.com L.B.’S PUB 23 Akins Dr, St Albert, 780.460.9100 LEAF BAR AND GRILL 9016-132 Ave, 780.757.2121 LIZARD LOUNGE 11827 St. Albert Tr, 780.451.9180, facebook.com/ The-Lizard-Lounge MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH 10086 MacDonald Dr NW, mcdougallunited.com MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET 8101 Gateway Blvd, 780.439.2337 MERCER TAVERN 10363 104 St, 587.521.1911 MERCURY ROOM 10575-114 St MUTTART HALL 10050 Macdonald Dr, 780.633.3725 NAKED CYBERCAFÉ 10303-108 St, 780.425.9730 NEWCASTLE PUB 8170-50 St, 780.490.1999

NEW WEST HOTEL 15025-111 Ave NORTH GLENORA HALL 13535109A Ave O’BYRNE’S 10616-82 Ave, 780.414.6766 OLIVER HALL 10326-118 St NW O'MAILLES IRISH PUB 104, 398 St Albert Rd, St Albert ON THE ROCKS 11730 Jasper Ave, 780.482.4767 PALACE CASINO 8882-170 St NW, 780.444.2112, palacecasino. com PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL 10860-57 Ave THE PROVINCIAL PUB 160, 4211-106 St RED PIANO BAR 1638 Bourbon St, WEM, 8882-170 St, 780.486.7722 RENDEZVOUS 10108-149 St RICHARD'S PUB 12150-161 Ave, 780.457.3118 RIC’S GRILL 24 Perron Street, St Albert, 780.460.6602 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE 10516 Jasper Ave, 780.424.3836 ROSEBOWL/ROUGE LOUNGE 10111-117 St, 780.482.5253 ROSE AND CROWN 10235-101 St SANDS INN & SUITES 12340 Fort Rd, sandshoteledmonton.com SHAKERS ROADHOUSE Yellowhead Inn, 15004 Yellowhead Trail SHERLOCK HOLMES–DOWNTOWN 10012-101 A Ave, 780.426.7784, sherlockshospitality.com SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A 8519-112 St, 780.431.0091, sherlockshospitality.com SHERLOCK HOLMES–WEM 8882-170 St, 780.444.1752,

sherlockshospitality.com SIDELINERS PUB 11018-127 St SMOKEHOUSE BBQ 10810-124 St, 587.521.6328 SNEAKY PETE'S 12315-118 Ave ST. BASIL'S CULTURAL CENTRE 10819-71 Ave NW, 780.434.4288, stbasilschurch. com STUDIO 96 10909-96 St NW SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE 1292397 St, 780.758.5924 STARLITE ROOM 10030-102 St, 780.428.1099 SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM 10545-81 Ave TAVERN ON WHYTE 10507-82 Ave, 780.521.4404 TIRAMISU 10750-124 St TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH 10014-81 Ave NW, 780.433.1604, trinity-lutheran. ab.ca TWIST ULTRA LOUNGE 10324-82 Whyte Ave UNION HALL 6240-99 St NW, 780.702-2582, unionhall.ca UPTOWN FOLK CLUB 7308-76 Ave, 780.436.1554 VEE LOUNGE, APEX CASINO–St Albert 24 Boudreau Rd, St Albert, 780.460.8092, 780.590.1128 WILD EARTH BAKERY– MILLCREEK 8902-99 St, wildearthbakery.com WINSPEAR CENTRE 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square; 780.28.1414 Y AFTERHOURS 10028-102 St, 780.994.3256, yafterhours.com YARDBIRD SUITE 11 Tommy Banks Way, 780.432.0428 YEG DANCE CLUB 11845 Wayne Gretzky Dr

EVENTS WEEKLY EMAIL YOUR FREE LISTINGS TO: LISTINGS@VUEWEEKLY.COM FAX: 780.426.2889 DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 3PM

COMEDY Black Dog Freehouse • 10425-82 Ave • Underdog Comedy Show • Every Thu

Century Casino • 13103 Fort Rd • 780.481.9857 • Open Mic Night: Every Thu; 7:30-9pm

Chris D' Elia • River Cree Casino, 300 East Lapotac Blvd, Enoch • rivercreeresort.com • Feb 6, 7pm (door), 9pm (show) • $29.50

COMEDY FACTORY • Gateway Entertainment Centre, 34 Ave, Calgary Tr • Fri-Sat: 8:30pm • Bob Beddow; Feb 4-6 • Paul Sveen; Feb 11-13

those brand new or experienced to D&D • Every Tue, 7pm • $5

Edmonton Needlecraft Guild • Avonmore United Church Bsmt, 82 Ave, 79 St • edmNeedlecraftGuild.org • Classes/workshops, exhibitions, guest speakers, stitching groups for those interested in textile arts • Meet the 2nd Tue ea month, 7:30pm

TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY (TOPS) • Grace United Church annex, 6215-104 Ave • 780.479-8667

EDMONTON OUTDOOR CLUB (EOC) •

(Bob) • bobmurra@telus.net • Low-cost, fun and friendly weight loss group • Every Mon, 6:30pm

edmontonoutdoorclub.com • Offering a variety of fun activities in and around Edmonton • Free to join; info at info@edmontonoutdoorclub.com

Edmonton Photographic Historial Society • Highlands Library • 780.436.3878 • All interested in sharing the joys of film photography, such as experiences or favourite equipment • 3rd Wed each month, 7:30pm

FOOD ADDICTS • Alano Club (& Simply Done Cafe), 17028-124 St • 780.718.7133 (or 403.506.4695 after 7pm) • Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA), free 12-Step recovery program for anyone suffering from food obsession, overeating, under-eating, and bulimia • Meetings every Thu, 7pm Fort Saskatchewan 45+ Singles Coffee Group • A&W, 10101-88 Ave, Fort

Comedy Illusion Show with International Comedy Illusionists and Magicians Trevor and Lorena Waters •

Saskatchewan • 780.907.0201 (Brenda) • A mixed group, all for conversation and friendship • Every Sun, 2pm

Stanley Milner Theatre, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square • labellestageproductions.com • Feb 9, 7pm • $25

Open Door Comic Creator Meetings

Comic Strip • Bourbon St, WEM • 780.483.5999 • Wed-Fri, Sun 7:30pm; Fri-Sat 9:45pm • Battle to the Funny Bone; every Mon at 7:30pm • Triple Threat Tuesday; every Tue at 7:30pm • Julian McCullough; Feb 3-6 • Sterling Scott; Feb 7 • Orny Adams; Feb 11-14

The Dating Game VALENTINE EDITION • On The Rocks, 11740 Jasper Ave • Featuring host Sterling Scott with the Nervous Flirts. Fun, prizes, and maybe love will be available • Feb 14, 7:30pm

DRUID • 11606 Jasper Ave • 780.710.2119 • Comedy night open stage hosted by Lars Callieou • Every Sun, 9pm DJ to follow Empress Ale House • 9912-82 Ave • Empress Comedy Night: featuring a professional headliner every week Every Sun, 9pm

Grim and Fischer by WONDERHEADS • Horizon Stage, 1001 Calahoo Road, Spruce Grove • 780.962.8995 • horizonstage.com • Death meets his match in this award-winning full-face mask comedy.

Called "intriguing, flawless and utterly brilliant" and "intense comical elegance," Grim and Fischer will make you laugh, cry and stand in awe. Winner of multiple awards at Fringe Festivals across Canada, this physical-theatre production is equal parts hilarious and touching • Feb 12, 7:30pm • $35 (adult), $30 (students/seniors)

ron james • Arden Theatre, 5 St Anne St, St

• Happy Harbor Comics, 10729-104 Ave • 780.452.8211 • happyharborcomics.com • Open to any skill level. Meet other artists and writers, glean tricks of the trade and gain tips to help your own work, or share what you've already done • 2nd and 4th Thu of every month, 7pm

Hexpert Night: Puerto Rico • Hexagon Board Game Café, 10123 Whyte Ave • 780.757.3105 • info@thehexcafe.com • thehexcafe.com • One of GOBfest’s ambassadors will be on hand and will show participants how to be the best at the game’s many roles and how to play • Feb 10, 7:30-9:30pm • $5

Illness support and solutions •

Practice group meets every Thu

Monday Mingle • Hexagon Board Game Cafe, 10123 Whyte Ave • 780.757.3105 • info@thehexcafe. com • thehexcafe.com • Meet new gamers. Go to the event solo or with a group • Every Mon, 5-11pm • $5 (one drink per person)

Northern Alberta Wood Carvers Association • Duggan Community Hall, 3728-106 St • nawca.ca • Meet every Wed, 6:30pm

Organization for Bipolar Affective Disorder (OBAD) • Grey Nuns Hospital, Rm

Strathcona Community League • Japanese Martial Art of Aikido • Every Tue 7:30-9:30pm; Thu 6-8pm

sAWA 12-STEP SUPPORT GROUP • Braeside Presbyterian Church bsmt, N. door, 6 Bernard Dr, St Albert • For adult children of alcoholic and dysfunctional families • Every Mon, 7:30pm

Argentine Tango Dance at Foot Notes Studio • Foot Notes Dance Studio (South side),

Schizophrenia Society Family Support Drop-in Group • Schizophrenia Society of

9708-45 Ave • 780.438.3207 • virenzi@shaw.ca • Argentine Tango with Tango Divino: beginners: 7-8pm; intermediate: 8-9pm; Tango Social Dance (Milonga): 9pm-12 • Every Fri, 7pm-midnight • $15

Alberta, 5215-87 St • schizophrenia.ab.ca • The Schizophrenia Society of Alberta-Edmonton branch provides a facilitated family support group for caregivers of a loved one living with schizophrenia.

Free drop-in the 1st and 3rd Thu each month, 7-9pm

casual parent group • Every Fri, 10am-12pm

Board Gaming with LADY GEEKs uNITE • Happy Harbor Comics, 10729-104 Ave NW • Among the book clubs and film screenings, LADY GEEKs uNITE will be hosting a board game night with some of the LGN crew bringing their own, and guests welcome to bring their own that can be played within an hour to an hour and a half • Feb 4, 7-9pm

Brain Tumour Peer Support Group •

Mount Zion Lutheran Church, 11533-135 St NW • braintumour.ca • 1.800.265.5106 ext. 234 • Support group for brain tumour survivors and their families and caregivers. Must be 18 or over • 3rd Mon every month; 7-8:45pm • Free

Drop-In D&D • Hexagon Board Game Café, 10123 Whyte Ave • 780.757.3105 • info@thehexcafe.com • thehexcafe.com • An epic adventure featuring a variety of pre-made characters, characters that guests can make on their own, or ones that has already been started. Each night will be a single campaign that fits in a larger story arc. For all levels of gamers and

Wiccan Assembly • Ritchie Hall, 7727-98 St • The Congregationalist Wiccan Assembly of Alberta meets the 2nd Sun each month (except Aug), 6pm • Info: contact cwaalberta@gmail.com

WOMEN IN BLACK • In Front of the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market • Silent vigil the 1st and 3rd Sat, 10-11am, each month, stand in silence for a world without violence

dence Renewal Centre, 3005-119 St • 780.479.0014 • info@gasamling.ca • gadensamtenling.org/003events/CalmAbidingRetreat.htm • For both beginners and experienced meditation practitioners alike. No prior experience in meditation is necessary to participate • Feb 13, 10am-4pm • $65

Poor Vote Turnout • Rossdale Hall, 10135-96 Ave • poorvoteturnout.ca • Public meetings: promoting voting by the poor • Every Wed, 7-8pm

Babes In Arms • The Carrot, 9351-118 Ave • A

Jean: Pavillion McMahon; 780.667.6105 (Willard); clubbilingue.toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 7pm • Fabulous Facilitators Toastmasters Club: 2nd Fl, Canada Place Rm 217, 9700 Jasper Ave; Carisa: divdgov2014_15@outlook.com, 780.439.3852; fabulousfacilitators.toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 12:05-1pm • N'Orators Toastmasters Club: Lower Level, McClure United Church, 13708-74 St: meet every Thu, 6:458:30pm; contact vpm@norators.com, 780.807.4696, norators.com • Terrified of Public Speaking: Norwood Legion Edmonton, 11150-82 St NW; Every Thu until 7:30-9:30pm; Free; contact jnwafula@yahoo.com; norwoodtoastmasters. org • Upward Bound Toastmaster Club: Rm 7, 6 Fl, Edmonton Public Library–DT: Meets every Wed, 7-8:45pm; Sep-May; upward.toastmastersclubs.org; reader1@shaw.ca • Y Toastmasters Club: Queen Alexandra Community League, 10425 University Ave (N door, stairs to the left); Meet every Tue, 7-9pm except last Tue ea month; Contact: Antonio Balce, 780.463.5331

Lotus Qigong • 780.477.0683 • Downtown •

Rouge Lounge • 10111-117 St • Comedy Groove

Aikikai Aikido Club • 10139-87 Ave, Old

• Club Bilingue Toastmasters Meetings: Campus St.

LECTURES/Presentations

0651, obad@shaw.ca; Group meets every Thu, 7-9pm • Free

Groups/CLUBS/meetings

Toastmasters

Robertson Wesley United Church Library, 10209-123 St • 780.235.5911 • Crohn's Colitis, I.B.D. Support and Solutions • Every 2nd and 4th Tue, 7-9pm

Albert • 780.459.1542 • ardentheatre.com • Feb 6, 7:30pm • $54 every Wed; 9pm

welcome. Occasional live music–check web; $10, $2 (lesson with entry) • Swing Dance Social every Sat; beginner lesson starts at 8pm. All ages and levels welcome. Occasional live music–check the Sugar Swing website for info • $10, $2 lesson with entry

Calm Abiding Meditation Retreat • Provi-

Composing Comedy Songs with The Irrelevant Show’s Jan Randall • Room 409, Alberta College Campus of MacEwan University, 10050 MacDonald Drive • 780.633.3725 • Join The Irrelevant Show's Jan Randall and learn how to compose comedy songs • Feb 4, 6-7pm • Free (admission by donation)

The Science Of Sexual Response • Strathcona County Library, 401 Festival Lane, Sherwood Park • 780.410.8600 • sclibrary.ab.ca • Providing an overview of sexuality in terms of basic anatomy, physiology and sexual response as well as techniques and behaviours to enhance sexual expression • Feb 18, 7-8:30pm • Free (register in person, online at sclibrary.ab.ca, or by calling 780.410.8600) Seeing is above All • Acacia Hall, 10433-83

Seventies Forever Music Society • Call 587.520.3833 for location • deepsoul.ca • Combining music, garage sales, nature, common sense, and kindred karma to revitalize the inward persona • Every Wed, 7-8:30pm

Sherwood Park Walking Group + 50

Ave, upstairs • 780.554.6133 • Free instruction in meditation on the Inner Light • Every Sun, 5pm

The TRC & You: Reflections from Settler Allies • Main Floor Atrium, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave • 780.248.1217 • macrae@ualberta.ca • metislifeskills.com/lunchtime-series • Bring your lunch and join us for a panel discussion surrounding the impact of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada's recommendations for universities and communities • Feb 19, 12-3pm • Free

(Un)masking Spirit: Mask Creation and Exploration with Elsa Robinson • Robertson-Wesley United Church, 10209-123 St • rwuc.org/sac.html • Every Tue, 7-9pm; Jan 12-Mar 22

events; see online for details • Happy Hour Wed-Fri: 4-8pm • Wed Karaoke: with the Mystery Song Contest; 7pm-2am • Fri: DJ Evictor • Sat: DJ Jazzy • Sun: Beer Bash

G.L.B.T.Q Seniors Group • S.A.G.E Bldg, Craftroom, 15 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.474.8240 • Meeting for gay seniors, and for any seniors who have gay family members and would like some guidance • Every Thu, 1-4pm • Info: E: Tuff69@telus.net Illusions Social Club • Pride Centre, 10608105 Ave • 780.387.3343 • edmontonillusions.ca • Crossdressers meet 2nd Fri each month, 7:30-9pm LIVING POSITIVE • #33, 9912-106 St • 780.424.2214 • livingpositivethroughpositiveliving.com • In office peer counseling, public speakers available for presentations, advocacy and resource materials available • Support group for gay men living with HIV: 2nd Mon each month, 7-9pm Pride Centre of Edmonton • Pride Centre of Edmonton, 10608-105 Ave • 780.488.3234 • A safe, welcoming, and non-judgemental drop-in space, support programs and resources offered for members of the GLBTQ community, their families and friends • Daily: Community drop-in; support and resources.

Queer library: borrowing privileges: Tue-Fri 12-9pm, Sat 2-6:30pm, closed Sun-Mon; Queer HangOUT (a.k.a.

QH) youth drop-in: Tue-Fri 3-8pm, Sat 2-6:30pm, youth@pridecentreofedmonton.org • Counselling: Free, short-term by registered counsellors every Wed, 5:30-8:30pm, info/bookings: 780.488.3234 • Knotty Knitters: Knit and socialize in safe, accepting environment, all skill levels welcome; every Wed 6-8pm • QH Game Night: Meet people through board game fun; every Thu 6-8pm • QH Craft Night: every Wed, 6-8pm • QH Anime Night: Watch anime; every Fri, 6-8pm • Movie Night: Open to everyone; 2nd and 4th Fri each month, 6-9pm • Women’s Social Circle: Social support group for female-identified persons +18 years in the GLBT community; new members welcome; 2nd and 4th Thu, 7-9pm each month; andrea@pridecentreofedmonton.org • Men Talking with Pride: Support and social group for gay and bisexual men; every Sun 7-9pm; robwells780@hotmail.com • TTIQ: a support and information group for all those who fall under the transgender umbrella and their family/supporters; 3rd Mon, 7-9pm, each month • HIV Support Group: Support and discussion group for gay men; 2nd Mon, 7-9pm, each month; huges@shaw.ca St Paul's United Church • 11526-76 Ave • 780.436.1555 • People of all sexual orientations are welcome • Every Sun (10am worship) Team Edmonton • Various sports and recreation activities • All-Bodies Swim: Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre, 8648-81 St NW; pridecentreofedmonton. org; Every 3rd Sat of the month, 9:30-10:30pm • Badminton: Oliver School, 10227-118 St; badminton@ teamedmonton.ca; Every Wed (until Feb 24); $5 (dropin) • Board Game Group: Underground Tap & Grill, 10004 Jasper Ave; Monthly on a Sun, 3-7pm; RSVP to boardgames@teamedmonton.ca • Bootcamp: Oliver Community Hall, 10326-118 St; bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca; Every Thu, 7pm; $30 (full season), $15 (low income or students) • Equal, Fit, Fierce, and Fabulous: Pride Centre, 10608-105 Ave; pridecentreofedmonton. org/calendar; Drop in games and activities for youth; Every other Tue, 4:30-6pm WOMONSPACE • 780.482.1794 • womonspace. org, womonspace@gmail.com • A Non-profit lesbian social organization for Edmonton and surrounding area.

Monthly activities, newsletter, reduced rates included with membership. Confidentiality assured Woodys Video Bar • 11723 Jasper Ave •

780.488.6557 • Sun: Last Sun each month, Woodys Jam Session with the talented regular customers; Jugs of Canadian or Kokanee only $13 • Mon: Massive Mondays features talented comedians • Tue: Domestic bottle beer special only $3.75 all night long • Wed: Jugs of Canadian and Kokanee for $13; Karaoke with Shirley from 7pm-12:30am • Thu: Highballs on special only $3.75 all night long; Karaoke with Bubbles 7pm12:30am • Fri: Comming soon: DJ Arrow Chaser's new TGIF Party • Sat: Pool Tournement, 4pm; Jager shots on special only $4; Coming soon, DJ Jazzy

• Meet inside Millennium Place, Sherwood Place • Weekly outdoor walking group; starts with a 10-min discussion, followed by a 30 to 40-min walk through Centennial Park, a cool down and stretch • Every Tue, 8:30am • $2/session (goes to the Alzheimer’s Society of Alberta)

QUEER

SPECIAL EVENTS

Bisexual Women's Coffee Group • A

4th Annual Family Day Pancake Breakfast • Strathcona County Museum & Archives, 913

Songwriters Group • The Carrot, 9351-118 Ave • 780.973.5311 • nashvillesongwriters.com • NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) meet the 2nd Mon each month, 7-9pm

EPLC Fellowship Pagan Study Group

Sugar Foot Ballroom • 10545-81 Ave • 587.786.6554 • sugarswing.com • Friday Night Stomp!: Swing and party music dance social every Fri; beginner lesson starts at 8pm. All ages and levels

social group for bi-curious and bisexual women every 2nd Tue each month, 8pm • groups.yahoo.com/ group/bwedmonton • Pride Centre of Edmonton, 10608-105 Ave • 780.488.3234 • eplc.webs.com • Free year long course; Family circle 3rd Sat each month • Everyone welcome

Evolution Wonderlounge • 10220-103 St • 780.424.0077 • yourgaybar.com • Community Tue: partner with various local GLBT groups for different

Classic Video Game Championships • NAIT - North Lobby, 11762-106 St • 780.913.9209 • cvgc.ca • Where four lucky contestants of the SNES Gamers Gauntlet tournament will progress to the finals this summer. Also featuring a myriad of classic game tournaments, free prizes, local video game vendors, raffles, kids activities and more • Feb 7, 10am-5pm • Free (some tournaments), $20 (main tournament), $5 (Street Fighter and Mortal Combat) DeepSoul.ca • 587.520.3833; call or text for Sunday jam locations • Every Sun: Sunday Jams with no Stan (CCR to Metallica), starring Chuck Prins on Les Paul Standard guitars; Pink Floydish originals plus great Covers of Classics: some FREE; Twilight Zone Lively Up Yourself Tour (with DJ Cool Breeze); all ages

Family Day at the Legislature • Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 10800-97 Ave • assembly.ab.ca • Family Day fun moves indoors for 2016. Featuring family fun events all the way from the Edmonton Federal Building through the pedway and up to the 5th floor of the Legislature Building • Feb 15, 11am-4pm • Free Flying Canoe Volant • La Cite Francophone, 8627-91 St • thecityoflight.ca • Discover French Canadian, First Nations and Metis magic through light, music and dance • Feb 5-6

Game Date Night • Avalon Knights • Featuring all of the classic traits of speed dating but incorporating board games into the mix. Tables of two player games will be set up, pairing men and women together for a 30-minute competition • Feb 13, 7-10pm; $10 (free for women)

Ice Castles • Hawrelak Park, 9930 Groat Road • icecastles.com • A massive castle made of ice, craft by hand using only icicles and water • Jan 5-Mar 1 • $9.95-$15.95 Lite Brite Winter Nite • Victoria Park Pavillion, River Valley Rd NW • edmontonbikes.ca/brite-litewinter-nite-bike-ride • Participants will be taken through the river valley and along Mill Creek to the Flying Canoë Volant and Winterus Maximus fat bike Chariot Race. All ages and abilties are welcome to join • Feb 6, 6-7pm • Free Lunar New Year Celebration • Londonderry Mall, 137 Ave & 66 St • Welcoming the year of the monkey! Featuring a Lion Dance performance, New Years greetings with firecrackers, dance performance, martial arts demo and much more • Feb 13, 11am-6pm

A Nite to Remember • Evangel Pentecostal Assembly, 4461-50 St • craigk@evangel.info • Two hours of laughter and fun with comedians Leland Klassen and James MacNeil. Plus, watch four couples battle it out on Date Night Feud • Feb 6, 6-9pm • $15 (single ticket), $20 (per couple); tickets can be purchased at BuzzTix

Nordlys Film and Arts Festival • Bailey Theatre 5041-50 St, Camrose • nordlysfestival.com • Breaking up the dark days of winter with a marathon line-up of films, special guests and live music with films varying in origin and language • Feb 12-14 The Rubaroo Aboriginal Arts Festival • La Cite Francaphone, 8627-91 St • rubaboo.ca • An artistic stew of workshops and performances by professional and emerging aboriginal artists • Jan 27-Feb 7

Scrambled YEG • Brittany's Lounge, 10225-97 St • 780.497.0011 • Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every Tue-Fri, 5-8pm Silver Skate Festival • William Hawrelak Park, 9330 Groat Road • silverskatefestival.org • Combines sport (especially skating), arts and culture, and recreation • Feb 12-21 • Free Southwest Community Ski Festival • Blue Quill Community Hall, 11304-25 Ave • Celebrate cross-country skiing • Jan 30, 11:30am-3:30pm Winterfest • McKernan Community Centre, 11341-78 Ave • Featuring kids games, snowshoeing, taffy and bannock making, marshmallow roasting, music, hot chocolate, hot dogs and so much more • Feb 14, 1-6pm

Valentine's Dance at Sugar Swing •

Ash St, Sherwood Park • 780.467.8189 • strathconasountymuseum.ca • Featuring pancakes, sausages, coffee and juice. Museum admission included with breakfast • Feb 15, 8:30-11am $5 (adult; 15 & up), $2 (youth; 5-14), 4 & under free. Museum admission included with breakfast

Sugar Swing Dance Club, 8116-105 St • dance@ sugarswing.com • sugarswing.com/valentines • An evening of social dancing and sweet treats. For those single and those with partners • Feb 13, 8pm (beginner lessons start) • $16 ($2 off for members, $1 off for students)

7th Annual Rubaboo Festival • Various

Valentine's Day Disco Skate • City Hall Plaze rink, Sir Winston Churchill Square • exploreedmonton.ca • Dance, skate, roast bannock and sip hot chocolate. Free skate and helmet use available. First come, first served • Feb 14, 5-9pm

locations throughout Edmonton • albertaaboriginalarts. com/rubaboo-2016 • Showcasing Aboriginal plays, music, dance, art, food, family events, artist workshops • Jan 27-Feb 6

VUEWEEKLY.com | feb 4 – feb 10, 2016

AT THE BACK 33

CLASSIFIEDS To Book Your Classified, Contact Valerie at 780.426.1996 or at classifieds@vueweekly.com

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COLLECTOR CAR AUCTION. 10th Annual Red Deer Collector Car Auction & Speed Show. March 11 13, 2016, Westerner Park.

Special Guests: Dan & Laura Dotson - Storage Wars; “Horny� Mike - Counting Cars; Chris Jacobs - Overhaulin’.

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MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION! In-demand career! Employers have work-at-home positions available. Get online training you need from an employer-trusted program.

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CONTROL YOUR FINANCIAL future selling Watkins products. Watkins has provided stability & high income for its associates for over 145 years. Join for less than $50. 1-800-279-6104. Email: watkinse@telusplanet.net.

A-STEEL SHIPPING CONTAINERS. 20’, 40’ & 53’. 40’ insulated reefers/freezers.

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•• career training •• MEDICAL TRAINEES needed now! Hospitals & doctor’s offices need certified medical office & administrative staff!

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•• coming events •• ALBERTA AUCTIONEER ASSOCIATION Presents 5th Annual Auctioneer Championship. Bid on many items. Saturday, February 6, 12 Noon, Coast Plaza Hotel, 1316 - 33 St. NE, Calgary.

Doors open at 10 a.m.

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seeking female vocalist Capable of also playing guitar or key for local acoustic 60s/70s duo, as well as some originals.

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34 AT THE BACK

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VUEWEEKLY.com | FEB 4 – FEB 10, 2016

POLE BARNS, Shops, steel buildings metal clad or fabric clad. Complete supply and installation. Call John @ 403-998-7907; jcameron@ advancebuildings.com.

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•• services •• CRIMINAL RECORD? Think: Canadian pardon. U.S. travel waiver. Divorce? Simple.

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FREEWILLASTROLOGY ARIES (MAR 21 – APR 19): The Bible's Book of Exodus tells the story of the time Moses almost met God. "Show me your glory, please," the prophet says to his deity, who's hiding. "You cannot see my face," God replies, "but I will show you my back parts."

That's good enough for Moses.

He agrees. I hope that you, too, will be satisfied with a tantalizingly partial epiphany, Aries.

I'm pretty sure that if you ask nicely, you can get a glimpse of a splendour that's as meaningful to you as God was to Moses. It may only be the "back parts," but that should still stir you and enrich you.

TAURUS (APR 20 – MAY 20): The archaic English word "quaintrelle" refers to a woman who treats her life as a work of art.

She is passionate about cultivating beauty and pleasure and wit in everything she is and does.

But she's not a narcissistic socialite. She's not a snooty slave to elitist notions of style. Her aim is higher and sweeter: to be an impeccable, well-crafted fount of inspiration and blessings. I propose that we resuscitate and tinker with this term, and make it available to you. In 2016, you Tauruses of all genders will be inclined to incorporate elements of the quaintrelle, and you will also be skilled at doing so. If you have not yet dived in to this fun work, start now!

GEMINI (MAY 21 – JUN 20): Sufi teacher (and Gemini) Idries Shah offered this teaching: "They say that when Fortune knocks, you should open the door. But why should you make Fortune knock, by keeping the door shut?" Let's make this your featured meditation, Gemini. If there is anywhere in your life where proverbial doors are shut—either in the world outside of you or the world inside of you—unlock them and open them wide. Make it easy for Fortune to reach you.

CANCER (JUN 21 – JUL 22): Many Cancerians harbour a chronic ache of melancholy about what they're missing. The unavailable experience in question could be an adventure they wish they were having or an absent ally they long to be near or a goal they wish they had time to pursue. That's the bad news. The good news is that you can harness the chronic ache. In fact, it's your birthright as a Cancerian to do so. If you summon the willpower to pull yourself up out of the melancholy, you can turn its mild poison into a fuel that drives you to get at least some of what you've been missing. Now is a favourable time to do just that.

LEO (JUL 23 – AUG 22): How will the next chapter of your story unfold? I suspect there are two possible scenarios. In one version, the abundance of choices overwhelms you. You get bogged

down in an exciting but debilitating muddle, and become frazzled, frenetic and overwrought. In the other possible scenario, you navigate your way through the lavish freedom with finesse. Your intuition reveals exactly how to make good use of the fertile contradictions. You're crafty, adaptable and effective. So which way will you go? How will the tale unfold?

I think it's completely up to you.

Blind fate will have little to do with it. For best results, all you have to do is stay in close touch with the shining vision of what you really want.

VIRGO (AUG 23 – SEP 22): "To hell with my suffering," wrote Arthur Rimbaud in his poem "May Banners." I suggest you make that your mantra for now. Anytime you feel a sour thought impinging on your perceptions, say, "To hell with my suffering." And then immediately follow it up with an expostulation from another Rimbaud poem, "It's all too beautiful."

Be ruthless about this, Virgo. If you sense an imminent outbreak of pettiness, or if a critical voice in your head blurts out a curse, or if a pesky ghost nags you, simply say, "To hell with my suffering," and then, "It's all too beautiful."

In this way, you can take advantage of the fact that you now have more power over your emotional pain than usual.

LIBRA (SEP 23 – OCT 22): "I like people who unbalance me," says Irish writer Colum McCann. Normally I wouldn't dream of encouraging you to make the same declaration, Libra. My instinct is to help you do everything necessary to maintain harmony. But now is one of those rare times when you can thrive on what happens when you become a bit tilted or uneven or irregular. That's because the influences that unbalance you will sbe the same influences that tickle your fancy and charge your batteries and ring your bell and sizzle your bacon.

SCORPIO (OCT 23 – NOV 21): The African Association was a 19th-century British group dedicated to exploring West Africa.

Its members hoped to remedy Europeans' ignorance about the area's geography. In one of the Association's most ambitious projects, it commissioned an adventurer named Henry Nicholls to discover the origin and to chart the course of the legendary Niger River. Nicholls and his crew set out by ship in their quest, travelling north up a river that emptied into the Gulf of Guinea.

They didn't realize, and never figured out, that they were already on the Niger River. I'm wondering if there's a comparable situation going on in your life, Scorpio. You may be looking for something that you have already found.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 – DEC 21): Richard P Feynman was a brilliant physicist who won a No-

ROB BREZSNY FREEWILL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

JONESIN' CROSSWORD

"A Light Dusting" —unlike in some areas.

bel Prize in 1965 for his pioneering work in quantum electrodynamics. He also played the bongo drums and was a competent artist. But excessive pride was not a problem for him. "I'm smart enough to know that I'm dumb," he testified. "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself— and you are the easiest person to fool." I suggest you adopt him as your role model for the next two weeks, Sagittarius. All of us need periodic reminders that we've got a lot to learn, and this is your time. Be extra vigilant in protecting yourself from your own misinformation and misdirection.

CAPRICORN (DEC 22 – JAN 19): Food connoisseur Anthony Bourdain has a TV show that enables him to travel the globe indulging in his love of exotic cuisine.

He takes his sensual delights seriously. In Charleston, South Carolina, he was ecstatic to experience the flavourful bliss of soft-shell crab with lemon pasta and shaved bottarga. "Frankly," he told his dining companion, "I'd slit my best friend's throat for this." Bourdain was exaggerating for comic effect, but I'm concerned you may actually feel that strongly about the gratifications that are almost within your grasp. I have no problem with you getting super-intense in pursuit of your enjoyment. But please stop short of taking extreme measures. You know why.

AQUARIUS (JAN 20 – FEB 18): You may sometimes be drawn to people or places or ideas long before they can give you their gifts. Although you sense their potential value, you might have to ripen before you'll be ready to receive their full bounty.

Here's how author Elias Canetti expressed it: "There are books, that one has for 20 years without reading them, that one always keeps at hand, yet one carefully refrains from reading even a complete sentence. Then after 20 years, there comes a moment when suddenly, as though under a high compulsion, one cannot help taking in such a book from beginning to end, at one sitting: it is like a revelation." I foresee a comparable transition happening for you, Aquarius.

PISCES (FEB 19 – MAR 20): The Leaning Tower of Pisa is eight stories high, including its belfry, and tilts sideways at a four-degree angle. When builders started construction back in 1173, they laid a weak foundation in unstable soil, and the building has never stood straight since then. And yet it is the most lucrative tourist attraction in the city of Pisa, and one of the top 10 in Italy. Its flaw is the source of its fame and glory. What's the equivalent in your world, Pisces?

Now is a favourable time to take new or extra advantage of something you consider imperfect or blemished.V

MATT JONES JONESINCROSSWORDS@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Across

1 1990 Gerardo hit "___ Suave" 5 Depeche ___ 9 Guardian Angels hat 14 See 28-Down 15 Apple MP3 player 16 Battery terminal 17 Sondheim song that starts "Isn't it rich?"

20 "Right now" 21 102, to Caesar 22 Apprehend 23 Have a meal 24 "Platoon" star Willem 26 Altared statement?

28 Park where Citi Field is located 35 Chinese tea variety 36 Tiresome, like a joke 37 In a ___ (teed off) 38 Back muscle, for short 39 "Inglourious Basterds" org.

40 .com kin 41 Grammy-nominated Macy Gray song of 2000 43 Australian coat of arms bird 44 Sir Thomas the tea merchant 47 Capricious activity, in a colorful metaphor 50 Corp. takeover strategy 51 "My Dog Has ___" 52 "The Simpsons" storekeeper 55 Actor/writer Barinholtz of "The Mindy Project" 57 Pai ___ (Chinese casino game) 58 Do a lawn chore 61 Goes cuckoo for 65 Nickname for the new host of "Celebrity Apprentice" 66 Extremely urgent 67 First Great Lake, alphabetically 68 Picks up a book 69 Litigation instigator 70 Outsmart

9 Last name in 2015's "Creed" 10 "Achtung Baby" co-producer Brian 11 "Dirty Jobs" host Mike 12 "Dame" Everage 13 Blood work, e.g.

18 Billionaire corporate investor Carl 19 Gave in 24 Award for a Brit. officer 25 Do a Google search on yourself, e.g.

27 Component of wpm 28 With 14-Across, vitamin B9 29 Hardly eager 30 Intro for sound or violet 31 Portland Timbers org.

32 "And ___ grow on" 33 Lehar operetta "The Merry ___" 34 Astounds 39 "That's amazing!" to a texter 42 Designer monogram 43 Edible mushroom of Japan 44 Completely cover 45 Astounded 46 "Antiques Roadshow" airer 48 Birds with curved bills 49 "An Inconvenient Truth" presenter 52 Hardly close 53 Peel, as an apple 54 Bone near the biceps 56 Closings 58 Marshy ground 59 Milo's pug pal, in a 1986 film 60 Stimulate, as an appetite 62 Ball cap 63 "Elementary" star Lucy 64 Fly catcher ©2016 Jonesin' Crosswords

Down

1 Speak with a grating voice 2 How some like their coffee 3 Five, to Francois 4 Without a match 5 Lego person or character, slangily 6 This or that, e.g.

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AT THE BACK 37

LUSTFORLIFE Womb detox is dangerous

BRENDA KERBER BRENDA@vueweekly.com

This practice is unnecessary and can cause serious infections Just a few weeks ago I wrote a column in which I explored the vast industry of vagina-enhancing products—all of which are neither effective nor necessary, and are often just plain dangerous. Well, a new vaginal problem solver has popped up that makes all of those others seem relatively harmless by comparison. This one can not only lead to an infection, it could actually kill you.

Womb detox, which has been in the news quite a bit lately, is purported by its inventors to cure anything from endometriosis to yeast infections. It involves putting small pouches of herbs into the vagina. This, like all of those other vaginal-cleaning products, has the potential to cause irritation, changes in pH level and allergic reactions. What makes it even more

dangerous, however, is that users are advised to leave the pouches in the vagina for three days. This could lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS).

If you are 40 years old or younger, you may have never heard of toxic shock syndrome. If you, like me, were a young woman in the 1980s, you probably remember hearing a lot about it.

TSS occurs when bacteria, most commonly Staphylococcus aureus (staph), builds up and releases toxins into the body. These toxins cause high fever, low blood pressure, seizures and other serious symptoms.

TSS can lead to organ failure and death. It was a relatively rare condition until 1980, when an unusually large number of cases were reported—812 women in the US,

38 of whom died of the infection.

The cause was eventually traced to the use of tampons, particularly the high-absorbency types common at the time. Tampons provide a place for staph bacteria to grow and the longer they remain in the body, the more bacteria that grows.

Once this was discovered, tampon manufacturers began changing the materials they used, lowering absorbency and advising consumers to change their tampons every few hours. Cases of TSS dropped dramatically and by 1989, there were no reported cases of TSS among menstruating women.

Today, we know to change our tampons frequently—but it's not just tampons that can cause TSS. Anything that stays in the vagina for

a long time, particularly something absorbent like these detox pouches, provides a potential breeding ground for staph bacteria.

The truly frightening thing is that the proponents of this womb detox treatment advise that it is entirely normal, and indeed a sign of health, to have a lot of white or yellow, bad-smelling discharge. This, they say, is the uterus clearing itself. It is not. It is a sign of a potentially serious infection that should be treated immediately.

Why has this idea, that the vagina and uterus need to be detoxed, become popular? I think there are two reasons: ignorance and shame. As young women, we are taught very little about how our reproductive

systems work. This silence leads to shame about completely normal body processes and fear that there is something wrong with us.

That leaves the door wide open for people looking to capitalize on our insecurities. At a time when it's so easy to access false information and dangerous products like this, it's vital that we start working to end the shame around vaginas and uteruses by educating young people about their bodies and how to take care of them properly. V Brenda Kerber is a sexual health educator who has worked with local not-for-profits since 1995. She is the owner of the Edmonton-based, sexpositive adult toy boutique the Traveling Tickle Trunk.

Dan savage savagelove@vueweekly.com

THE WILBUR THEATRE

A large crowd braved a snowstorm to come out to Savage Love Live at Boston's Wilbur Theatre last week.

Questions were submitted on index cards, which allowed questioners to remain anonymous *and forced them to be succinct. I got to as many of them as I could over two long, raucous, boozy hours. Here are some of the questions I didn't have time for in Boston ...

What do you think of poop play?

I think of it rarely.

How long should I keep my partner locked in male chastity?

Until Rick Santorum is president.

What exactly causes relationships to end?

Relationships end for all sorts of different reasons—boredom, neglect, contempt, betrayal, abuse— but all relationships that don't end survive for the same reason: the people in them just keep not breaking up. Sometimes people in relationships that need to end never get around to breaking up.

I was in an open relationship once and was heartbroken in the end because my partner broke the rules we made. My current partner wants to make our monogamous relationship open, but I am hesitant because of my previous burn. How do I get over this and become comfortable with an open relationship again?

Rejecting non-monogamy because your last non-monogamous relationship failed makes about as much sense as rejecting monogamy

38 AT THE BACK

because your last monogamous relationship failed. If people applied the same standard to closed relationships that they apply to open ones ("I was in one that failed so I can never enter into another one!"), most of us would've had two relationships in our lives—one open, one closed—and then either taken a vow of celibacy or pledged to stick to NSA sex for the rest of our lives.

Our choices are informed by our experience, of course, and you had a bad experience with an open relationship. Open relationships might not be for you. But it's also possible that the problem with your last relationship wasn't the openness but the partner.

I accidentally told my dad about your podcast when teaching him how to use iTunes. I called home a couple of weeks later, and Dad told me he's been listening and Mom yells, "I'm not gonna pee on you!" ☹ >:( It could've been worse. Mom could've yelled: "We can't talk right now! I'm peeing on your father!"

My husband and I (30s, M/F, two kids) found out our best friends of 20 years were secretly poly. And we didn't know! Well, we all fucked.

Now our relationship/friendship is

What is the deal with a "blumkin"?

Like, honestly, why? Why? WHY? They freak me out and confuse me.

Take it away, Urban Dictionary: "When a man is sitting on the toilet taking a shit and has his woman come in and give him head during the act of shitting."

I've been writing this dumb sexadvice column for a long time, and while I've received a few questions like yours over the years ("What's the deal with blumkins?!?"), I've never once received a question about an IRL blumkin session gone wrong. So blumkins aren't for real, and they're not really about sex. As you can see from the UD definition, it's not about sex or kink, it's about misogyny and implied violence, ie, the man takes a shit and orders "his woman" to come in and give him head. Consensual degradation and power play can be hot, of course, but blumkins and donkey punching and dirty sanchezes—and the scared little boys who talk about them—are bullshit. Sexist bullshit.

Monogamy comes from the Greek "monos" for "single" and "gamos" for "marriage." So the term literally means "one marriage" not "one love."

Advice for happily childfree people in a baby- and parent-worshipping world?

You could take comfort in your free time, your disposable income and your vomit-free wardrobe. You could also see baby and parent worship for what it is: a desperate attempt on the part of the busy, broke and vomit-spackled (and the people trying to sell stuff to us) to make ourselves feel better about the consequential and irrevocable choice we made to have kids.

Magnum condoms are just marketing, right?

Wrong—but you don't have to take my word for it. Just spend 10 minutes on Tumblr and you'll see for yourself.

fucked, too. How do we move on from this mess?

People who are poly say they want more love, sex and joy in their lives—but some poly people seem to want more chaos, drama and hurt in their lives. Unless you know a couple well, or unless you've noticed the trail of destruction they've left in their wake, there's just no way to tell what they're really after until after you've slept with them. Anyway, how do you move on? You send a note, you apologize for your part in the chaos, drama and hurt, and you express a desire to mend the friendship. Hopefully you'll hear from them.

Like most gay men in their early 30s, I enjoy chatting and sending pics of my nether regions via dating apps. My conflict is that I am a public school teacher. While I believe I have a right to a sex life, what if someone I send a pic to disagrees?

Do you think I should stop?

We need to pick a day for everyone on earth to intentionally release a pic of their nether regions online. It

VUEWEEKLY.com | feb 4 – feb 10, 2016

should be an annual holiday—just to get it over with and to prevent moralizing scolds from going after people whose pics go unintentionally astray. But schoolteachers have been fired for sexting. So … whether you stop or not depends on the degree of risk you're comfortable with and the faith you have in the discretion of the folks you're meeting on apps.

Why is the term "monogamy" and not "monoamory"?

Monogamy comes from the Greek "monos" for "single" and "gamos" for "marriage." So the term literally means "one marriage" not "one love." Since you can be monogamous without being married, and married without being monogamous, perhaps the term really should be "monoamory," meaning "one love at a time, married or not."

But meaning follows usage, and an effort to get people to use monoamory would be just as futile as efforts to stop people from using polyamory because it mixes Greek ("poly") and Latin ("amory").

We're both over 40, married 10 years. He wants a threesome and I'm ambivalent. He says +1 girl; I say +1 boy. What do we do?

Upgrade to a foursome with +1 opposite-sex couple.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Wilbur! I had a blast! V On the Lovecast, Dan and The Gist's Mike Pesca "tackle" a football relationship question: savagelovecast.com. @fakedansavage on Twitter

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