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The FTIR in all its drug-checking glory. / Supplied

OPIOID CRISIS

HARM REDUCTION GROUP EYES NEW TOOL Edmonton Organization Indigo Seeks Funds for Advanced Drug-Testing Tech—a First for Alberta

I

n the wake of yet more fentanyl-related deaths in Alberta, a local harm-reduction group is hoping to raise money for a machine that may be a useful weapon to combat the ongoing crisis that claims hundreds of Albertans every year. Indigo Harm Reduction Services hopes to purchase a Bruker Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (or FTIR) machine to replace the current set of chemical reagent tests that are used by similar groups in the province.

According to Shelby Young, Indigo’s director, the hope is that the machine could also mark an increase in cooperation between the group and the provincial government.

The machine is around the size of a suitcase. It functions by “shooting” a ray through the substance.

The information received is sent to a database of chemicals that the machine, then, confers with before sending the analysis to a tablet display that sits on top of it.

“It tells you the percentage of everything in there; it tells you what’s in there,” Young says. “What really matters, and what we have to pay for, is that database.”

Currently, Indigo provides on-site harm reduction services to music festivals and events in Alberta. It has, recently, been setting up shop at raves and other after-hour dance events in Edmonton, though it has since started trying to develop a working relationship with municipalities in Alberta. Indigo is hoping to set up the machine in conjunction with other harm-reduction, and aligned, organizations around the city, including safe injection sites.

“It’s really sad to see our province not moving forward with this technology and giving its access to people,” she says. “We wanted to change that ... We hope to work with other community organizations to get it out to other demographics.”

The FTIR isn’t specifically for the purpose of testing drugs (it can be used to verify the purity, or lack thereof, of most chemi-

cals in existence), but, according to Young, it’s incredibly accurate.

British Columbia has a few of these machines running around and catering to the province’s many events. Currently, Alberta only has reagent test kits available for substance checking, and, according to Young, these tests leave much to be desired in terms of accuracy.

“They’re not reliable enough for us,” she says.

Drugs like fentanyl, which are active in incredibly small amounts, can be hard to check for using any method, Young says. Grains of the potent opioid can exist, and be active, in one part of a baggie of drugs, and not in another—so testing a small sample of a batch of, say, MDMA might not show the presence of fentanyl, but it could still be in there.

“There are things called ‘hot spots,’ and if you’re checking a part of a substance that isn’t a ‘hot spot,’ then [the test] won’t say,” Young says. “We really encourage people to dig around and move everything in the bag around and take a sample from the bag so we can get a better sense if there’s fentanyl inside of it.”

Indigo began fundraising for the machine a few weeks ago on Go Fund Me, in the hopes of raising $150,000 for the machine itself, a van to carry it around, and for money to pay its operators. The machine, and the necessary database of substances it can check for, cost around $60,000. So far—as of Monday—the campaign is just shy of $300, a far cry from where Indigo would like the campaign to be. Young says the group is prepped for the campaign to continue on for years, potentially, and they will continue fundraising until it gets done. (That said, she’d also like provincial and private funding).

“You have to throw in the computer, and the insurance, and the training. It’s quite pricey,” Young says. “I don’t understand how our province isn’t wanting to access this service.”

Doug Johnson doug@vueweekly.com

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front 3

Political interference

NDP’s AISH changes fix historical mess I

Albertans Hardly Noticed the Province Untangled an Administrative Mess that Plagued Those with Disabilities for Decades

n the midst of the 2004 provincial election in Alberta, former premier Ralph Klein told a Progressive Conservative election rally about the two women outside who had been “yipping” at him about Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) payments, and how they were too low to actually live on.

“They didn’t look severely handicapped to me,” mocked Klein.

“I’ll tell you that for sure. Both had cigarettes dangling from their mouths, and cowboy hats.”

He promised that, were he to be re-elected, his government would move quickly to “look at potential and absolute abuse[s] of the system, and cut those people off.”

That episode highlights how contentious the issue of AISH payments has historically been in Alberta. On one hand, the fact that a province rich in natural resources­ —that for years ran multi-billion dollar surpluses— can’t provide an adequate living for people with severe disabilities is a potential political embarrassment for any leader. For years, people like Klein defended against this political embarrassment by asserting that the problem was not low AISH rates, but rather that there were too many

people cheating and abusing the system, and the way to fix it was to create multiple layers of bureaucratic checks, balances, and means-testing to catch all potential cheaters.

On the other hand, there is absolutely no denying that Alberta’s multiple extreme booms and busts make life very difficult for those relying on income support programs. The hyperinflation that tends to accompany boom periods renders their income supports almost meaningless, and the inability to generate any other income during bust periods leaves them with insufficient funds for essentials like food and rent.

Klein’s 2004 anti-AISH tirade ultimately resulted in the creation of an MLA Review Committee on AISH. The committee reported back in 2005 with 11 recommendations, including an immediate increase of $200 to AISH rates (which had been at $850 since Klein’s election in 1993), a review of rates every two years, and a number of recommendations to streamline the process in order to make it easier for people to apply and be approved for support. The government acted on six of the 11 motions, including the immediate increase and biennial review but

not the bulk of recommendations dealing with streamlining. The 2008 biennial review resulted in the maximum benefit increasing again to $1,088. It is worth pointing out that, after adjusting for inflation, the 2008 rate was actually worth less than the 1993 rate had been. In constant dollars, AISH benefits did not actually surpass the 1993 rate until Alison Redford increased them by $400 in 2012, but they were quickly eroded by inflation so that once again today they are lower than in 1993.

All of this history should serve to highlight just how groundbreaking and significant it was last week when the NDP government announced Bill 26, An Act to Combat Poverty and Fight for Albertans with Disabilities. The bill increases benefits for AISH and other income supports beyond 1993 levels (in real levels), but more importantly, it indexes those benefits to inflation so as not to erode their value and purchasing power over time. The bill applies to AISH, Income Supports, and Alberta Seniors Benefits, and it also makes a number of important changes that will allow recipients to actually save funds for the future without losing ben-

efits. These are all changes that community groups, advocates, and even the auditor general have been pushing for years, and they will make a significant difference to those living on supports.

The increase and indexing is in addition to the government’s ongoing efforts to deal with the other aspect of the historical problem with AISH and other supports. A 2016 report by Alberta’s auditor general Merwan Saher highlighted numerous problems such as excessive delays between levels of approval, complicated and indecipherable application forms, rejections due to minor details that could have easily been resolved earlier in the process, and clients receiving lower benefits than they were entitled to. The bureaucratic nightmare was such that, at the time, Saher concluded, “The department does not know what it needs to change to improve the program.”

This past July the government, as part of its AISH Action Plan, introduced new user-friendly forms and guides to help make the process easier for Albertans with disabilities. The plan also streamlined the application process, changed the adjudication guidelines, and improved communication procedures so that

they actually provide timely and useful information for applicants.

The Action Plan is a direct response to Saher’s concerns and recommendations, and the fact that it was crafted with direct input from current clients and disability advocates means the changes are likely to make a significant difference in program delivery. The biggest challenge will be properly resourcing the program with sufficient staff and supports to ensure caseworkers can fully implement the plan without burning out, which is not currently the case.

The government’s incredible success in dealing with the historical issues surrounding AISH and other income supports has largely gone unnoticed by Albertans because of their almost singular focus on pipelines, the economy, and the provincial debt, and the latest announcement was largely overshadowed by the public airing of grievances by a Calgary backbencher. The NDP should get full credit, however, for their handling of this file where it inherited a historically entrenched bureaucratic disaster that was actually doing damage to the well-being of Albertans.

Ricardo Acuña

dyer straight

What Went Wrong in Eastern Europe?

Ultra-Nationalists and Liberals Made Strange Bed Fellows, but the Uneasy Alliance Worked, for a time

I

first met Viktor Orban, the notquite-dictator of Hungary, in 1989 in Budapest—the man who introduced us was none other than George Soros.

Orban was then a firebrand student leader, anti-communist and keen for Hungary to join the West.

Soros, a Hungarian refugee who became an American billionaire, was devoting his time and money to finding and subsiding young Eastern Europeans who would lead their countries into the European Union and a liberal democratic future.

But Orban is now the prime minister of an ‘illiberal’ Hungarian government that controls the mass media and regards the EU as the enemy.

In last April’s election, he portrayed Soros as the Jewish evil genius who, with the EU’s help, was planning to flood Hungary with Muslim refugees, and destroy the country’s culture and identity.

That’s ridiculous, but Orban won almost half the votes and more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament. Poland, a far bigger country, now also has a far-right, ‘illiberal’ government that is ultra-nationalist and hostile to the EU (although both countries depend heavily on EU subsidies).

The extremists are not yet in power in other Eastern European countries, 4 front

but similar trends are visible in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania. The dreams and hopes that drove the anti-communist revolutions of 1989 are not yet dead, but they are definitely fading. What went wrong?

These countries are among the most ethnically homogenous in the world (due to the Holocaust and the widespread ‘ethnic cleansing’ that followed both world wars). They have

close alliance with the pro-Western activists who wanted a liberal, democratic future. From Poland to Bulgaria, the liberals and the nationalists worked together, and even after the overthrow of the communists in 1989, they continued to believe (or at least hope) that democracy could accommodate them both.

Maybe it could have, but the nationalist wars that destroyed

Slobodan Milosevic.

But nationalism was the most powerful political force in Eastern Europe throughout the 20th century, and it wasn’t going to just fade away. It re-merged in the early 21st century, shorn of its liberal associations with tolerance and diversity, as a major political force in the region—and the driver behind it was what Krastev

“The extremists are not yet in power in other Eastern European countries, but similar trends are visible in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania.” admitted almost no refugees, yet their politics is dominated by the fear of being swamped by them.

It’s beyond bizarre, but Bulgarian political philosopher Ivan Krastev has a persuasive explanation for it. He points out that the question “isn’t so much where the nationalism has come from, but where it’s been hiding all these years.” His answer is that it was hiding in plain sight.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the nationalists who wanted independence from Soviet rule formed a

the former Yugoslav federation in the 1990s put an end to the partnership. As Krastev says, the violence there persuaded liberals that “nationalism was the very heart of darkness, and that flirting with it could only be sinful.”

So the liberals broke their alliances with the nationalists, and for a while the nationalists went very quiet. Nobody, not even Polish or Hungarian nationalists, wanted to be seen in the same light as monsters like Serbia’s

calls “demographic panic”.

After 1989, many people in Eastern Europe not only aspired to emulate the prosperous liberal democracies of Western Europe.

They actually wanted to live in them, and when their countries joined the EU they acquired the right to free movement. If Poles thought that life would be better in England, for example, they could just move there and find work—and a million of them did.

Since 1989, 27 percent of Latvia’s population has emigrated to West-

VUEWEEKLY.com | nov 15 - nov 21, 2018

ern Europe, and Bulgaria has lost 21 percent. Hungary is not so hard hit, but it has lost three percent of its population to Western Europe in the past 10 years—and almost all the emigrants are young, leaving behind an aging population with a low birth rate.

This is the real source of the demographic panic, but it finds its political expression in a paranoid fear that the country’s dwindling population will be overrun by immigrants with a radically different culture, particularly refugees. It doesn’t matter that there are virtually no immigrants in Hungary, and that it’s about the last place a refugee would want to go. In these matters, perception is all.

The anti-immigrant hysteria is almost universal in Eastern Europe, and it will bring more illiberal nationalist regimes to power before it is finished. The remedy, if there is one, is for the liberals to acknowledge the nationalists’ concerns and rebuild the old alliances with them without pandering to the panic.

That’s not easy to do, but it’s what every Western European democracy has actually been doing for generations. Although they’re not doing too well with it at the moment themselves.

Gwynne Dyer

MEMORIES OF POT

Weed on a sunny day. / Adobe Stock

MARIJUANA MUSINGS: IT’S BEEN AWHILE

VUE BRIEF

I

C

After Decades of a Smoke-Free Lifestyle, Cannabis Returns as an Old Friend with New Lessons

n the summer of 1990 I stopped smoking entirely—tobacco and marijuana, both of which I had regularly indulged in since my late teens. I was 40, and it was life-changing. The change heralded my slow but steady movement away from a hippie lifestyle, back into the world of working in and engaging with the mainstream for the first time since becoming a mother at the age of 20.

Fast forward to the summer of 2017—at a small backyard gathering, a 67-year-old widow, former hippie, and ex-real estate agent inhales her first puff of marijuana smoke in 27 years.

It was really quite something.

I went on an inner journey, the likes of which I had only ever experienced on LSD in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, let’s take a little hop forward to the Autumn of 2018.

With the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada, and in light of my own journey with it, I would like to share what insight and wisdom I have received and realized in my relationship with dear Mary Jane, particularly for the first-time or inexperienced user.

Of course, each person’s experience will be different, each time, and it really depends to an enormous degree on your reason for partaking. You may be looking for fun, an escape from stress, or answers to a curiosity you have about what you may have been missing. Maybe you’ve decided to do it because someone you love

does it—there’s a multitude of possible motivations. For me, the questions ‘What am I here for?’ and ‘What the heck is going on on this planet?’ have long underpinned my life, so I err toward a deep enjoyment of the more philosophical end of the spectrum— I’ve had huge fun with it too, of course. Here is some of what I have discovered over the past year and a bit.

Discovery number one What’s on the market now is stronger than it used to be. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it may well knock your proverbial fucking socks off. It did mine. For me, it’s best without tobacco, and a little goes a long, long way.

Discovery number two Being with people you trust and feel safe with is important— people you don’t have be anything or anybody for. It’s really okay to be quiet and reflective if that’s what’s of most interest to you. Following what’s real and true for you will get you to the best places.

Discovery number three Smoking and drinking are not the best combo. A little alcohol may be okay but a lot can really mess with your head and confuse your body. (Editors note: driving under the influence of both cannabis and alcohol in tandem, a.k.a driving ‘crunk,’ carries heavier penalties than driving on either substance alone).

Discovery number four Lessons and realizations are cumulative—each time is different and builds on past experiences. No matter how weird it may get, you can always learn (most like the next day) from the experience.

(Editor’s note: The Doors may or may not help with this).

Discovery number five You can choose the kind of experience you’d like to have by selecting the strain. Never knew that before! It’s now really easy to inform yourself. (Editors note: they’re not run by scientists or anything, but there are sites with anecdotal and experiential reviews of each strain’s effects.)

And of course, marijuana can really bring out your playful side.

The release from the tension that comes from having a good giggle when you see the funny side of everything is priceless. I spent the evening of Oct. 17 playing a brilliant board game called Clownaround!

Most recently, I have enjoyed spending time alone, moving to my own inner rhythm, perhaps listening to podcasts or watching videos on subjects I’m interested in. I find it deeply therapeutic. I also love opportunities to engage in philosophic exploration with others.

So, I wish you a beautiful new relationship with Mary Jane. Keep your heart open, relax, relax, relax, and remember that, bountiful as her gifts are, she is not to be taken for granted.

Andrea Gietz

Inside the ‘Stat Cards’ of Cannabis Strains annabis producers can, and do, generate a good deal of content surrounding the properties of their wares. On the Government of Alberta’s cannabis sales website, each strain of dried flower comes with an a little spiel on the subjective effects of the strain, the amount of THC and CBD (two of literally hundreds of cannabinoids found in the plants), and a breakdown of its flavour profile.

Buckle up, nerds, Vue Weekly is going to learn ya’ on how each strain is tested at Emblem Cannabis.

According to the company’s director of product strategy Jordan Rodness, cannabis gets its aroma and flavour from compounds called terpenes.

Well, actually, all plant life gets these qualities from these compounds. Pine trees—basically the smell of Christmas?

Terpenes (which are sometimes also found in weed). Citronella, used in a fruitless attempt to reduce the number of mosquito bites? You bet those are terpenes—terpenes that you can find in dank bud.

“You smell something before you taste something. It all works in conjunction,” Rodness says, adding that the company tests for 40 different terpenes. “When we say something’s going to have a flavour, more often than not it’s prefaced by the terpene results we get from these tests.”

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

These tests can give percentages of terpenes by weight for each strain. Combined, these percentages should give the company an estimated guess at what the bud’s scent or flavour should be. Some strains, previously, were named for their terpene content. Lemon Kush, for example, tastes lemon-y, and strains with skunk in their monikers taste skunky.

After the tests, the company has someone, a human, do a sensory evaluation—someone sniffs the weed. Rodness is one of these people, but the company brings in people from different departments to get different perspectives.

As cannabis is a controlled substance, people at Emblem can’t just go around smoking it to check for its subject effects. While these effects are, as stated, entirely subjective, there can be some guesswork done based on the amounts of THC and CBD (and which kinds of terpenes are present).

“You can kind of make some leaps based on anecdotal stories,” Rodness says. “Cannabis is a totally unique plant, or product. Every person is going to reach differently from everyone else ... But right now there is no scientific evidence to backup that one strain is going to make you feel one way over another.”

—DJ

front 5

Seoul Fried Chicken’s looking for ways to get its food to consumers. / Supplied

DELIVERY

After Months of Searching, Jake Lee Is Starting His Own Fleet of Drivers

F

ed up with what he says are lacklustre delivery services in Edmonton, Jake Lee, owner of Seoul Fried Chicken (SFC), is attempting to create his own operation to get his food across the city.

Since last July, SFC’s website has offered an apology to users, asking patience while it finds a thirdparty service to deliver its Koreaninspired fried chicken. Prior to this, SFC has tried numerous delivery services in town, including Doordash, Nomme (which was eventually subsumed by Doordash), and SkipTheDishes, which—though founded in Canada—was purchased by Just Eat, a similar service.

“We dove into every company that has tried to survive in this sector,” Lee says. “Canadian markets, as most economists know,are hard

to crack into [many of these companies are owned State-side]. You need to be quite patient. These guys aren’t willing to do as much for small businesses as they are with franchises that have multiple units.”

In many cases, these services take what Lee considers to be a large percentage of the cost of each order, offering exposure over money.

For SFC, which—despite its popularity—operates in a small space with only a handful of tables, this model isn’t sustainable, he says, adding that SkipTheDishes asks an average of 20 to 25 percent of every order.

Currently, the bulk of SFC’s sales are takeout orders, Lee says. When it offered delivery, the restaurant saw between 50 and 80 deliveries on good days.

“Most businesses don’t make that margin, everything considered,” he says. “When you have restaurants like Earls or Cactus Club, or other businesses that don’t thrive on delivery as much, saying 25 percent isn’t as big. They see it as a marketing budget.”

According to Lee, the cut the services took was less of an issue than what they offered for the percentages. While paying these sums, he wondered what the businesses were doing to increase the presence of SFC beyond providing drivers. The service Nomme impressed Lee for a time. As a small, Canadian start-up, it worked hard to foster good relations with its businesses. However, according to Lee, its whole shtick was to grab a

large enough share of the market to get noticed and, subsequently, bought out by a bigger player— which it did.

Customer support with these groups can also be tricky, Lee says, as they often outsource this work to places outside of Canada.

“There’s no point in offering these non-Canadian companies more percentages of my small business’ money if they’re not going to do anything creative or anything forward thinking in marketing,” Lee says.

Soon (though there is no firm date set), Lee hopes to create a small fleet of drivers to fill SFC’s delivery needs. He has a few drivers already onboard, and a few restaurants signed up, including Dorinku, and some of Lee’s other projects like

Drunken Ox, Sober Cat. “Technology is so open now it’s easy for anyone to make their own app,” Lee says.

Currently, SkipTheDishes has the largest share of the industry in Edmonton, and has steadily increased in popularity since its founding in 2012. As of Nov. 1, there were 1,250 restaurants signed up for the service in the city, according to an email sent from the company. The email also says it cannot share its “cost breakdowns with restaurants as this information is confidential.”

It goes on to say: “We work alongside our restaurant partners to develop agreements that are mutually beneficial and will enable partners to grow their business.”

Doug Johnson doug@vueweekly.com

KITCHEN TIPS Delicious tourtière. / Travis Grant

A Québécois Dish at Home in Alberta

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n Canada’s evolving cultural mosaic, food is an enigmatic part of the conversation about our collective identity. What food is uniquely Canadian and what does it say about who we are?

For me, the answer lies, in part, in communal tables of our forebears. Food was often centred around wild game and shared with neighbours, building community against inhospitable odds in the Terra Nova they hewed into our nation. Chief among those foods was the French Canadian dish, tourtière—the savouriest of all meat pies.

6 dish

Primarily a holiday dish, tourtière was a focal point of Christmas Eve celebrations following midnight mass—a tradition called réveillon that continues to this day. While ingredients vary regionally, venison tourtière is one of the most traditional varieties.

Across most of Alberta, November marks the start of hunting season so sourcing venison yourself or getting it from a friend or family member, shouldn’t be a problem. My take on venison tourtière is slightly different than the pies made in Québec centuries ago, but the inspiration burns brightly

and thoughts of tourtière’s cultural import always linger near.

If you have a favourite recipe for a buttery, flaky pie crust, by all means use it. If you’re pressed for time, pre-made crusts are perfectly fine. These past few years, I’ve deferred to the crust recipe offered up by Thomas Naylor, the former executive chef to the Canadian ambassador to the United States, who, for many years, introduced this fundamental of Canadian cuisine to embassy guests in Washington, DC. In a food processor, mix flour, butter and salt. Pulse the mixture

until you get small, bead-sized pieces. In a separate bowl, mix egg, water, and thyme, then add it to the contents to the food processor and continue pulsing until you have a nice dough. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and let it cool in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

This is where I depart from Naylor’s version of tourtière, which relies on pork. Venison is lean so I do add a bit of pork to keep it from drying out, but not so much that it takes away from the flavour of the venison (my ratio is about one third of the amount of venison). My first step is to boil a pot of potatoes for mashing (about three medium potatoes per pound of meat). The mashed potatoes will help bind the meat filling. Be sure to save two cups of starchy potato water—you’ll need it to add to the filling.

Next, add the pork, venison, and half a cup of potato water to a large, thick frying pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce to medium heat, then add onion, celery, pepper, savory, rosemary, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Cook over low heat

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

for one and a half hours, covering throughout, and add more potato water to the mixture as needed.

When the filling is ready, season with salt to taste. Finally, add the mashed potatoes and mix to an agreeable consistency.

Preheat your oven to 425 F and roll out your pastry, then line a pie plate with it. When the meat mixture is cooled, spoon it into the pie shell and cover it with the remaining pastry. Trim your pastry around the edges of the pie plate and seal them. Be sure to cut vents in the top of the crust.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 F and bake another 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Congratulations! You’ve just baked your first tourtière and you’re about to win hearts and minds. Serve warm, inspire a conversation or two about national unity, and take note that, regardless of who we are or where we’re from, we can always come together at the dinner table for a meal that is a cornerstone of Canada’s culinary identity.

—Travis Grant

RAMEN

Behold—the rock on which you can build your ramen church. / J Procktor

THE FUNDEMENTALS OF RAMEN

Nodoru Provides the Building Blocks for Some Truly Stellar Soup—Be Sure to Build Your Own

Nudoru 10532 82 Ave. 780 757 6836 nudoru.ca

T

here must be more to ramen than just noodles, broth, and juicy pork—plus the dozen or so other adjuncts that commonly turn up in ramen bowls—right?

How else to explain the wild popularity of what is, at the end of the day, soup? Yet Edmonton still just seems to be finding its feet ramenwise, with just a handful of restaurants exclusively devoted to doling it out. And of those, an even rarer few truly stand out for their offerings and atmosphere. I’m glad to report Nudoru, a Whyte Avenue ramen nook, does manage to peek out above the crowd.

One thing that no ramen place in Edmonton I’ve visited has managed to do is capture the cozy, polite—but business-like efficiency—of a similar noodle shop in, say, Vancouver. You come in the door; you’re ushered to the nearest stool; someone is on you like stink taking your order.

It’s in front of you two minutes later—maybe you shout part way through the bowl for a noodle infusion. Your glasses steam over.

When they clear the table, your bill is sitting on a tray in front of you, and you’re on your way.

Still, Nudoru does at least have a vibe emblemized by the large mural of a cyclonic samurai sport-

ing pink-swooshed Nike kicks.

It feels young and cool, with a wafty electro-pop soundtrack and a kitchen full of lads who visually could comprise an international boy band sensation. The menu is primarily ramen, with a few appies and curried katsu (rice bowls) for good measure. They also deal in sake, Japanese beer, and Alberta craft brews (I had a nice sleeve of mellow blonde ale from Medicine Hat’s Hell’s Basement Brewing for $7).

You can build your own ramen and, in retrospect, that seems the surest way to obtain the best bowl of ramen. The prefab selections of tonkotsu, while convenient, lack the multiplicity of textures and flavours a wellrounded bowl of ramen contains.

a while, but I was impressed by how well balanced my broth was—it avoided becoming too spicy over the course of many mouthfuls.

Both bowls contained fresh house-made noodles, expertly brought to al dente suppleness, and were laden with nori, savory bamboo shoots, half a soft-boiled egg, and a slice each of pork belly, pork shoulder, and bacon—generous portions, to be sure.

Thick, melty slabs of pork belly are all too rare in Edmonton ramen (except at Prairie Noodle), so I should probably get over myself and accept thin, firm slices as the norm. Nudoru’s decision to juxtapose their thin pork belly with a slice of less-fatty pork shoulder demonstrated their similarity.

While not quite bizarre, the soggy slice of bacon was unexpected and in no way compensatory.

Co-diner and I, shivering from a walk through the windy winter night, started with gyoza ($9 for sizzling hot fried then steamed dumplings stuffed with minced Alberta pork, cabbage, and Asian turnip) served with a black vinegar dip with a surreptitious aromatic sweetness—succulent and scalding.

Our bowls of ramen followed shortly thereafter. Co-diner went the black garlic tonkotsu route ($15.50), which added black garlic oil and pickled onions to its miso base. I had the spicy tonkotsu ($15.50), the smooth golden miso broth that harboured chili garlic fire, and banana peppers. She said the garlic got to be a bit much after VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

Next time at Nudoru, I’ll build my own so I can stick solely to pork belly and add on some fungus, sweet corn, sprouts, fried shallots, or other items from their list of add-ins, and have the option of a shio (salted) or shoyu (soy sauce) broth. But I could easily see myself making a return trip to Nudoru for their solid grasp of ramen fundamentals.

Scott Lingley

as dark as it gets

dish 7

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ON STAGE

What a Young Wife Ought to Know Shows How Far Family Planning Has Come Thu., Nov. 15 – Sun., Dec. 2 What a Young Wife Ought to Know Roxy Theatre For tickets and showtimes, visit theatrenetwork.ca

I

Jonny and Sophie have a time of it trying to figure out 1920s birth control in What a Young Wife Ought to Know. / Ryan Parker

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t’s strange to think how much reproductive health has changed in 100 years. Condoms, contraceptive pills, and other forms of birth control are widely available, and abortion hasn’t been a crime in Canada since 1988—but back in the 1920s, couples who didn’t want to have any more children were expected to stop having sex. Inspired by a compilation of letters sent to British birth control advocate Marie Stopes (Dear Dr. Stopes: Sex in the 1920s) and a similar book of letters published in 1915 called Maternity: Letters Women, What A From Working Women Young Wife Ought to Know is a play about one low-income couple’s struggle to cope when the medical advice of the day was “just don’t.”

In the play, a doctor tells the young wife, Sophie, not to have any more children after she suffers a prolapsed womb. She asks him, “How do I prevent it?” but gets no real answer. It’s a question Sophie asks again and again throughout the play, as she and her husband Jonny struggle to find a solution that still allows them to be intimate.

Marianne Copithorne was approached by Theatre Network artistic and executive director Bradley Moss to direct, and read writer Hannah Moscovitch’s play for the first time when considering whether or not to take the job. She says what appealed to her was the way the play moves through the years of Sophie and Jonny’s lives.

“I think from a directorial perspective, it’s just the way that it moves in time. It covers a lot of territory and a lot of time …

There’s about 40 units, and you just go through and see all these scenes that happen to this young couple,” Copithorne says.

The play is structured so that Sophie narrates her own life to the audience, talking to the “ladies and gentlemen” who have come to hear her tale, and asking them rhetorical questions about their own use of contraception. Then the play shifts so that Sophie is no longer narrating, but playing out her life instead. In addition to VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

Jonny, her sister Sophie is also a character on stage, but we learn right from Sophie’s opening dialogue that Alma is dead.

Sophie and Jonny’s tenement house in Ottawa—and the play’s other settings—are brought to life by set and costume designer Tessa Stamp.

“In some of Hannah’s plays she really talks about a really minimal situation, where actors are in pools of light, and come in and out from the darkness into the light,” Copithorne says. “And then when we sat down with our designer Tessa Stamp, she really felt like she wanted to make it a realistic setting … and her set design was so awesome that we said, ‘Let’s go for it.’”

The director adds that because the play moves so quickly, it’s been a challenge to make the costume and set changes work, “but it’s pretty rewarding, honestly.”

Though the play’s script is dark, and some scenes might seem like a challenge to bring to the stage, Capithorne says it works.

“When you get it up on its feet, you realize that it’s not as difficult as you first thought, and there’s … a lot of humour in it that you don’t actually get when you read it,” she says.

In one scene, Sophie and Jonny are trying a form of birth control that—let’s just say—proves challenging to use. Capithorne says it’s hilarious to watch.

“When you actually see what’s going on, it’s quite comical,” she adds.

Capithorne refers to the couple being caught in a cycle of trying not to have sex and eventually getting pregnant—a cycle that will only end if Sophie dies or they stop having intercourse for good. Other elements to the cycle are Sophie’s repeated question about “how to prevent it” and the circumstances that eventually lead her to give into having sex despite not having found an answer. Without revealing where the play finds its conclusion, one can say that an undue amount of the burden falls on Sophie.

“It’s a real eye opener, for sure, to see what is available to us now, and what was available to people then,” Capithorne says.

Though What a Young Wife Ought to Know is a darker play, Capithorne says that shouldn’t deter people from coming out to see it.

“It’s a very moving interpretation of what happened, and there is lots of hope and there is laughter,” she says. “[Moscovitch] always writes very strong characters, and she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

GRAPHIC NOVEL

TALES OF THE SHY CHICKEN-HEADED BOY

Montreal’s Siris Paints His Childhood in His English Debut, The Vagabond Valise

P

ierre Sirois or Siris, as he is known in the professional art world, is known as the founding father of Montreal’s underground comic community. He has published zines, anthologies, little comics here and there, and now The Vagabond Valise, an autobiographical graphic novel that happens to be his English debut.

Siris uses his fantastic cartoon imagery to portray his tough childhood, when he moved from foster home to foster home.

Most of these stories represent Siris as Chick-o, a boy—who later becomes a man—with a chicken head. The chicken head is meant to portray Siris’ alter ego.

But the story doesn’t begin with Chick-o’s story. It opens with his father Renzo—a sailor who crashes a boat, winds up bedridden, and becomes an alcoholic

who can’t keep a job—in the 1940s. Soon Renzo meets Luce at one of his factory jobs—where their job is to make bombs? For the war? It’s unclear—and they get married. A few years later they have four kids and Renzo still struggles to keep a job but still guzzles down the booze.

This leaves his wife to essentially raise the kids on her own, causing obvious resentment. Eventually, little Chick-o is born. Renzo’s consistent drinking leads to the family’s demise, and the social workers take all the children.

Siris’ illustrations depict his father as a crazed cartoon maniac. The read is funny, but still sad, and Siris balances both emotions with adept accuracy.

There’s Seussical type imagery as some of the characters look like scribbled caricatures.

The Vagabond Valise Siris Conundrum Press, 2018 343 pages Soon, a cycle of abusive foster parents descend upon Chick-o, and the vicious pattern continues for years. This leaves him as a shy little bird teenager. He lands his dream job as a cartoonist and he turns 17 during the 1970s, the heyday of punk rock. Chick-o dives into Montreal’s emerging music scene and finds a home in its clubs, but the memories of his hellish father still creep up. The narrative is a bit long, but the crackpot visual humour Siris is known for shines on each page, making any new reader an instant fan of his wacky antics.

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

BOOK REVIEW

A PERSONAL APOCALYPSE

Jennifer Quist Offers Subtle Writing and Well-Rounded Characters in The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner

A

poc·a·lypse (noun): a great disaster; something viewed as a prophetic revelation.

Jennifer Quist’s third novel, The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner, is a story of both great disaster and great revelation.

Living in the aftermath of the vicious, much-publicized murder of her sister Tricia, Morgan Turner finds herself in a quagmire of crises. With her family broken apart and the confessed murderer running a ‘not criminally responsible’ delay strategy within the justice sys-

tem, she loses faith in herself, in a sustaining sense of order in the world, and in humanity.

Megan slowly finds some clarity through her emerging friendships with Gillian and Paul, the variously challenged siblings of the prosecuting attorney, Joshua Lund. Freeing herself from the fiction that “criminals are masterminds, manipulators with ingenious plans of execution and evasion,” she comes to understand society’s dark underside for what it is—“one sad, stupid mess after another.” In the case of her sister’s killer, it is an “evil … cranked out on a filthy assembly line, rote, boring, and broken by design.”

As the realities of Tricia’s “horror movie” unfold in court, Morgan literally and figuratively exorcises her demons sufficiently enough to move forward into what seems a more hopeful post-trial life.

Novels that focus strongly on social issues are inherently difficult for any writer to negotiate. This is especially true if the decision is made to avoid the satiric (Kurt Vonnegut), utopian/dystopian (Margaret Atwood),

or fantastic (Neil Gaiman). But Quist proves herself more than ready for the challenge. Her characters avoid cliché, rounding into form through a humanizing depth and richness of emotional palette. Her thesis is clear, yet never overwhelming. And her writing is subtle, avoiding, for the most part, the pedantic

heavy-handedness that would cripple a writer of lesser skill.

Is The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner a light read? No. But neither was the revelatory Dante’s Inferno, which echoes throughout this novel. And it is the sentiment of Dante’s final lines that, in the end, reverberate most deeply in Morgan’s

The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner Jennifer Quist Linda Leith Publishing, 2018 236 pages apocalypse: “From whence we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”

Klay Dyer

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arts 9

ARTS AND CANNABIS

The public park on 104 Avenue, off 124 Street and 31 metres from Udell Xhibitions. / Chelsea Novak

HIGH TIMES AT UDELL XHIBITIONS The Owners of the 124 Street Gallery Are Expanding into Retail Cannabis Sales

T

he owners of Udell Xhibitions are getting into the retail cannabis business. Melissa Lavoie and Andrew Udell first submitted an application to open a store in July, and as of Oct. 5 it was approved. There were some bumps in the road, but Lavoie says it’s all worked out for the best.

Lavoie and Udell took over the art gallery from Udell’s father in June 2017—after he retired—and decided to continue running the art space.

“And then later on down the line, we realized that it would be amazing to be able to bring in a new demographic of people, and have the opportunity to have the gallery, as well as the … retail space,” Lavoie says. “So

unfortunately because of the way the AGLC [Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis] has placed everything, you can’t have two businesses running under the same roof.”

The AGLC requires that a retail cannabis store “be separate from any other business and must only operate for the purpose of a retail cannabis store,” so Lavoie and Udell will eventually be moving the art gallery downstairs, and operating the store, Herbal Headquarters, upstairs.

To keep art in the space, Herbal Headquarters will rent art from Udell Xhibitions, similar to the way cafés or other businesses display art that is not related to their main commercial purpose.

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10 arts

“It just brings that opportunity for people to get to see and view beautiful art, but also to have the opportunity to pick up the products that they need as well,” Lavoie says.

She adds that she is also looking for local artists who create bongs and pipes.

“There’s actually one company that we’re talking with … BRNT Designs. They’ve made an incredible … paraphernalia line, and we definitely want to support them because they’re local as well,” Lavoie says.

She and Udell got lucky when their development permit application was selected for further consideration in the City of Edmonton’s random selection process in July, but were surprised when their application was denied in August.

“We were pretty stunned by that, because we had checked out the separation distances from everywhere, and we thought we were situated in the perfect spot,” Lavoie says.

They were further surprised when they learned the city’s reason for rejecting the application.

The city claimed that the location of the proposed cannabis store was not at least 100 metres from lands zoned A and AP, which respectively are a metropolitan recreation zone and a public parks zone.

The public park in question is located at the end of 104 Avenue, just off 124 Street by Wadhurst Road, but Lavoie says it’s more of a shared pathway.

“It’s actually like a doublewide sidewalk that’s about 50-feet wide with a couple of benches on each side, and the city was trying to claim that as a park,” Lavoie says.

The orange bears at Udell Xhibitions will soon stand guard over the entrance to a retail cannabis store. / Chelsea Novak

It also turned out the lot is actually zoned as three different zones, including as a low intensity business zone (CB1) and a site specific development control provision (DC2).

Lavoie and Udell appealed the decision, their lawyers arguing that the public park zone “is used primarily by area employees as a place to smoke on their breaks and is regularly used by certain segments of Edmonton’s homeless population as a place to sleep. The area is covered in cigarette butts, homemade ashtrays, and garbage.” They also argued that, at the time of the application, the metropolitan recreational zone—a pathway leading to Groat Road—“was unmaintained and grown over by long grass. Fallen trees covered the entrance to the trail and it appeared inaccessible for the public to enter.” They added

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

that neither site appeared to be regularly maintained.

It’s also worth noting that none of the City of Edmonton’s cannabis rules would restrict smoking cannabis in the park, as it has no playground, sports field, skate park, bicycle park, outdoor theatre, pool or spray park, season skaing rink, or off-leash area.

Lavoie is glad that things worked out, but said the appeal process was an added expense. Nonetheless, she feels the timing may have worked out for the best.

“Because if we would have been open on Oct. 17, then most likely we would be closed now because there is a shortage of supplies,” she says.

Lavoie and Udell hope to have a soft launch for Herbal Headquarters in March, and a grant opening on Apr. 20, 2019.

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

THEATRE IN INSTALLATION

“Meet” Alberta’s oil workers. / Supplied

VUEPICKS

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

Amanda Parris and Tom Power host From the Vaults. / CBC

From the Vaults Premiere // Thu., Nov. 15 (9 pm) Amanda Parris (CBC Arts: Exhibitionists and The Filmmakers) and Tom Power (q) host this documentary series that “includes footage from some of the biggest Canadian music moments over the last 60 years.” The two hosts will take you on a tour through CBC’s music archives from the past 60 years, which are extensive. The first episode starts with Sammy Davis Jr., with commentary from Paul Anka (natch!) and Jason King. (CBC)

REAL OIL STORIES

‘Performance Installation’ Viscosity Lets Audiences Meet Alberta Oil Workers

T

heatre Yes’ latest experimental work adds a journalistic streak to its unique brand of performance.

Director Heather Inglis calls Viscosity a “performance installation,” as seven actors perform monologues in a gallery format.

It’s an unforgettable experience that removes the serendipity from meeting the people that work in Alberta’s oil sector.

If you quickly browse each monologue from the periphery of the performers’ focus, the show takes less than 50 minutes to experience.

However, audiences can come and go as they like throughout the duration of Viscosity’s showtimes, viewing each of the seven installations in any order and as many times as they like.

If you choose, you may wait for the opportunity for each actor to speak directly to you by sitting or standing on a pink x to queue them in. There’s ample space around each installation for multiple audience members to listen to each story, but the actors deliver their monologues in an intimate one-on-one manner to the person on the x. If it weren’t for the smart directing that urges each onesided conversation along, I might have accidentally responded to the more casual statements.

Each monologue comes from verbatim transcriptions of interviews with real oil workers. When Viscos-

ity concludes its run, Theatre Yes will submit the interviews to the Alberta Labour History Institute and the Provincial Archives of Alberta as oral histories, but until then, its performances live as a novel way to interact with people working in a core part of Alberta’s economy, who you might not otherwise meet.

With a few exceptions, Viscosity introduces you to its characters as you might encounter them here in Edmonton. Each installation’s set boasts enough concrete details to place you within a moment, and whether it’s a Canadian tuxedo, a jumpsuit, or casual clothes—each performer believably dresses their part.

Byron Martin takes a seat next to you on an ETS bus, performing as an anonymous worker who equates landing a job in the oil industry to winning the lottery. Melissa Thingelstad joins you at a bar table with flashing lights as she recounts Kara Nystrom’s experience as a queer woman working long shifts with lax safety regulations.

Chris Bullough speaks to you across the napkin dispenser of a diner, relaying veteran electrician Ian Wilson’s near death experiences and his hope for the future of energy workers. Sandy Paddick shares a glass of wine with you outside her RV, remembering the

Viscocity Until Sat., Nov. 17 (7:30 pm nightly) Backstage Theatre, ATB Arts Barn Tickets at tixonthesquare.ca highs and lows of Sonia Donaldson’s ongoing career as a heavy equipment operator. Murray Farnell slides out from under a Ford truck on a mechanic’s creeper and checks the stereotypes that pipefitter Andrew Bellamy has heard over the years.

Jimmy Buena sits across from you on a sofa, breaking down the stresses that an anonymous welder faced when he borrowed money to come to Alberta from the Phillipines only to have his job disappear. And Leo Campos Aldunez looks up from his computer in an administrative office, providing Alberto Linch’s take on the industry.

The installations address the workers’ motivations, present their emotions borne from the bigotry they’ve seen or experienced, and tackle the ever-present concerns about safety and climate change.

Viscosity offers authentic emotions that make it easy to empathize with the workers’ experiences, and it paints a complex picture of the industry our province was built on.

Kevin Pennyfeather

The Russian Vaganova Dance Society’s 30th Anniversary Gala // Thu., Nov. 15 and Fri., Nov. 16 (7 pm) The Russian Vaganova Dance Society is celebrating 30 years of dance with two evenings of local and visiting talent. Dancers from the Edmonton Dance Factory, Marr-Mac Dance, DanceCO, and the Salt Lake Ballet will perform, along with the Viter Ukrainian Dancers and Folk Choir. Russian ballet dancer Anton Ploom will also appear.

(Myer Horowitz Theatre, $28)

The Art Mentorship Society of Alberta’s Fourth Birthday Celebration and Art Gala // Fri., Nov. 16 (4:30 – 10 pm) The Art Mentorship Society of Alberta (AMSA) “has a mandate of improving mental health outcomes through affordable art education and professional development opportunities.” Join AMSA at its fourth gala to support its work, but also to hear a panel on mental health and live music from Jay Gilday and The Coal Mine Canaries.

(ATB Arts & Culture Branch at CKUA Radio Network, $20 – $100)

Henry Sir Live Stand Up Album Recording // Fri., Nov. 16 (9 pm) Edmonton comic Henry Sir will be recording his debut stand up album at the Grindstone Theatre. Sir has toured North America, but he says he really wanted to record his first album at home. If you’re in the mood for some homegrown comedy, join him for this exciting moment in his career. (Grindstone Theatre, $10 presale, $15 at the door)

Silver Skate Festival Call for Fire Sculpture Artists // Deadline Fri., Nov. 30 The Silver Skate Festival is looking for teams of fire artists to build sculptures that will be burned at 7:45 p.m. each day of the two weekends during the festival (Feb. 8 – 10 and Feb. 15 – 17). The sculptures should be interpretations of the story, “The Land of the Golden Apples,” and each team will be given an artist fee of $1,000, as well as food and beverages for the day on site. (silverskatefestival.org/go/downloads/2019/SSF2019_FireSculpture_App_r3.pdf)

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

arts 11

Jovan Adepo plays the protagonist Private Boyce in Overlord. / Paramount Pictures

WARTIME HORROR

Overlord Delivers Over-the-Top Acting, Creepy Monsters, and a Lot of Slime

D

umb fun seems to be an archaic concept by today’s movie standards—as plain dumb has taken over the majority of cinema screens.

But fear not, the time of overblown, self-aware popcorn pulp is not over, and Overlord is here to parachute in and save the day.

What this movie offers is a very streamlined and direct approach to genre hopping. It follows a group of paratroopers on the eve of D-Day, as they parachute into France with the goal of taking out a Nazi radiojamming tower. However, what they don’t know is something far more nefarious lays in wait beneath the church that stations this military hardware—cue gasps.

Overlord moves at an incredibly steady clip, the main title splashes on our heroes in their plane before the big jump, with no over expository narration or unnecessary character backstory.

The horror DNA of the film slowly reveals itself as our heroes are forced to discover that something is not right with the sleepy French town they landed in—and the war movie cues flare and boom with well-choreographed gunfights and monster-slaying action.

All of the actors hit their marks and deliver their lines with all the ‘oorah’ gusto that you’d expect from a Second World War epic, and that’s kind of the point. The Nazis are overblown and almost only monologue as a means of communication, and the monsters are grotesque and slimy.

Overlord harkens back to a time when horror didn’t have to be thought-provoking or nightmare inducing—because if there’s one thing we sometimes forget about the monsters under our bed, it’s that they can be a lot of fun.

Jake Pesaruk

Overlord Directed by Julius Avery Now playing 

BIOPIC

QUEEN MOVIE BITES THE DUST

Bohemian Rhapsody Exalts Freddie Mercury Without Giving Him Much Depth Bohemian Rhapsody Directed by Bryan Singer Now playing 

Joseph Mazzello, Ben Hardy, Rami Malek,

FRI, NOV 16– THUR, NOV 22

and Gwilym Lee in Bohemian Rhapsody. / Twentieth Century Fox

H

BOY ERASED

FRI & MON TO THURS: 7:00 & 9:30PM SAT: 1:00, 3:45, 7:00 & 9:30PM SUN: 1:00, 3:45, 6:15 & 8:45PM RATED: 14A, SV

FREE SOLO SO

FRI & MON TO THURS: 6:45PM SAT: 1:15 & 6:45PM SUN: 1:15 & 6:00PM RATED: PG

12 film

BEAUTIFUL BOY

FRI: 9:15PM SAT: 3:30 & 9:15PM SUN: 8:15PM MON TO THURS: 9:00PM RATED: 14A, SA, CL

osting a bash where, rumour had it, nude models grappled in a pit filled with raw liver and midgets had trays of cocaine strapped to their noggins; sitting on Darth Vader’s shoulders during an encore; out-partying Elton John, yet still being shy in private and unsure enough about his sexuality in the mid-1970s to say, “I sleep with men, women, cats, you name it”—this was Freddie Mercury, frontman to one of music’s biggest acts ever. But a movie charting his and Queen’s rise can’t offer surround-sound depth, or strutting, swaggering showmanship—just plodding pedestrianism. Bohemian Rhapsody is biopic agony.

With so many scenes burnished in golden light, as if trapping its subject in amber for future rockhunters to unearth, BR’s pantingly eager to make a legend out

of Mercury (Rami Malek) and his orbiting satellites’ music. There’s no mention of influences, as if Her Majesty’s Sound emerged fullyformed, ready to rip into “Keep Yourself Alive” (this flick offers no reason to, though). The finale— Queen’s Live Aid performance, with the quartet apparently uninterested in the cause, yet the only reason people start phoning in donations—sees Mercury’s friends, family, fans, and even guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, staring at him in awe, demanding our admiration for the umpteenth time.

Amid music-encyclopedia entrypoints run through Script Translate, yet another scene provides an excuse for a Queen hit. (An in-studio argument’s broken up by bassist John Deacon’s sudden invention of “Another One Bites

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

The Dust”; Mercury’s ousting of scheming hanger-on Paul Prenter brings us “Under Pressure”; etc.)

It’s named after a best-selling, barmy prog-rock number, yet this unfunhouse animatronic karaoke ride hasn’t got a single good or loopy idea what to do with its main man’s sexuality. No doubts about his libido-life clash with the singer’s blazing certainty he’ll be a star.

That besotted Prenter—eventually dismissed as a “fruit fly”—is a pathetic hanger-on. (Mercury even says he fired him for “villainy.”) The press pops up once, to grill Mercury on his private life; the scene’s given—what bohemian subtlety— a distorted fishbowl look. And Malek’s impressive FM-channeling gets lost in this static drama. Just repeat “I Want To Break Free” for 134 minutes instead.

Brian Gibson

IN THEATRES

NOVEMBER 16

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

film 13

SCI-FI THRILLER

HUMOUR, BODY HORROR, AND SCI-FI Logan Marshall-Green Is a Treat to Watch in Upgrade

S

omehow, this sci-fi thriller slipped under the radar with a limited theatrical release over the summer, but for fans of near-future sci-fi and body horror, Upgrade is a must-see. Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is a mechanic who works on classic cars, despite the fact that the self-driving kind are increasing in popularity. While his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) embraces new technology—she actually works for a tech company—Grey prefers to do things himself. So when the couple is attacked, leaving Asha dead and Grey a quadriplegic, he’s only too happy to accept help from his former client, tech genius and Elon-Musk-type Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson) so that he can move again.

Eron offers to implant a buglooking microchip called Stem in Grey’s spine. The chip essentially acts as a go-between for Grey’s brain and the other neurons in his body. Marshall-Green’s amazing physical performance kicks off as soon as Stem is implanted— his movements become more robotic and deliberate—but the movie really gets going once Stem (voiced by Simon Maiden) reveals he can talk to Grey and

PRESENTS SCIENCE IN THE CINEMA

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN THU @ 6:30

The visual world of Upgrade is also great. True, there’s not really anything you haven’t seen before in terms of sci-fi tech ideas, but what worked was how Apple-esque everything was. The AI in Grey and Asha’s home—Kara, voiced by Abby Craden—is an obvious upgrade of Alexa or Siri, and the aesthetic in their house and Keen’s is kind of Ikea on steroids, which works to build sympathy for Grey’s dissatisfaction with his surroundings.

Asha and Eron react to Grey’s luddite attitude as if he’s oldfashioned, but as he returns to his old neighbourhood to pursue the men who killed Asha, a different

NOV 15 - NOV 21

SKIER’S FILM FESTIVAL SAT @ 7:00

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14 film

performance as Grey Trace in Upgrade. / BT Tilt

Upgrade Directed by Leigh Whannell Available on Blu-ray and DVD  take emerges. While the well-off live in luxury, everyone else’s surroundings look awfully familiar— the one home Grey enters even has 1970s wood-paneling on the walls. The people in Grey’s old neighbourhood live in older, dilapidated homes, drive older cars, and don’t seem to be benefitting from the technological progress the one percent enjoy.

The man who kills Asha (Benedict Hardie) clearly harbours some class-based resentment towards her, but though the spectre of classism hovers throughout the film, it’s ultimately more of a theme than an actual plot point.

The one thing Upgrade loses points for is ‘fridging’ Asha.

Fridging is a term that was originally coined in regards to

comic books, and refers to any instance where a female character, usually the hero’s wife or girlfriend, is killed off to further the male hero’s story. It’s lazy— just really, really lazy, and frankly eye-roll inducing—but otherwise Upgrade is a great, bloody ride.

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

ANTI-WESTERN

RED DEAD REDUCTION

The Coen Brothers Fumble out of the Gate in Their First Straight to Streaming Outing, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

SWEDISH WITH SUBTITLES

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Logan Marshall-Green gives a captivating

starts helping him track down and take revenge on the men who killed his wife.

The exchanges between Stem and Grey are great—offering a mix of humour and horror—and when Stem takes over Grey’s body in combat, Marshall-Green does an amazing job of juxtaposing decisive, mechanical body movements with much more emotional and human facial expressions. His performance is so fun to watch it almost distracts from all the bloody gore in the film.

I

n a time of Netflix dominance and the rise of the anthology series, you’d expect many modern directors/writers to jump on the bandwagon—but not the Coen Brothers. Alternatively, they have provided a cinematic book of fables in the form of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

The film is comprised of six separate stories, but instead of allowing viewers to watch each one at their own leisure—à la episodic format—the Coens doubled down on making one streamlined film, which plays into all the strengths that the writing and directing duo have built in

their decades-long arsenal.

The first initial story, which is the movie’s namesake, follows the tale of Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) as he moves from town to town gun-slinging and singing. It’s a little jarring initially, as this silly musical yarn lacks most of the bleak pathos that the Coens are famous for, but as the film jumps from story to story, you realize that this unfamiliar territory is intentional. This is solidified further by all six anti-westerns feeling completely removed from their predecessors.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs comes across as more of an experiment that the directing duo decided to do in their spare time. After the initial confusion of the film’s introduction subsides, you’ll be taken through gorgeous cinematography, spot on performances and, yes, that weird esoteric irony that the Coens are famous for.

You’ll be treated to stories with no dialogue that have a lingering unease to them, tales of bombast and wit, and even a frontier ghost tale.

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Netflix 

Yet, we still have to approach this narrative experiment as a movie and a not a collection of stories, and this is where the cracks do start to show.

There is no doubt that there are some stories that received a little more polish and attention from both the actors and directors alike, and this weakens the film’s pacing, as you’ll go through a boom and bust cycle of quality as each story passes by—save for one tale completely dominated by a Tom Waits on top of his game.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a formidable first outing for the Coens on a streaming format, but there is no doubt that this narrative six-shooter has a couple of duds.

Jake Pesaruk

Behemoth look like Dark Souls bosses. / Grzegorz Gołębiowski

BLACKENED DEATH METAL

Adam “Nergal” Darski of Behemoth Has Always Identified With the “Outcasts of Religion and Mythology”

T

he Gospel of Mark describes one of Christ’s encounters in the fishing village of Capernaum.

Proselytizing in a synagogue, Jesus is suddenly interrupted by a man possessed by an impure spirit.

The man attempts to shout Jesus down and demands that he leave the temple. Calmly, Jesus binds the spirit, and commands it to leave its host, thereby solidifying his divinity to all in attendance.

The demon-possessed man is never mentioned again because without the demon, he really isn’t that interesting.

Behemoth has the opposite problem. The demons the members are possessed by are complex, articulate, and fun at parties. So there’s a lot to talk about whenever someone brings up the Polish blackened death metal trio.

They are drummer Zbigniew “Inferno” Promiński, bassist Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski, and vocalist and guitarist Adam “Nergal” Darski. The new album, I Loved You at Your Darkest (ILYAYD), is

a return to philosophically dense and compositionally deep black metal. Darski’s audibly boiling over with focused enthusiasm.

“I’m super passionate about this album,” Darski says. “And I really hope that when I talk to people, journalists, and fans [when] I confront them, that they can feel that passion—that you’re not dealing with yet another bored musician putting out fuckin …

‘You have a record, man. You have an album.’ And we’re still around. We’re still hungry. We’re relatively young. We’re ready to fucking go on tour, and conquer all. No prisoners motherfucker.

No prisoners.”

It’s that attitude—that tenacity —that’s made Behemoth such a heavy force with such a fine edge. ILYAYD is the band’s first release since the hyperacclaimed 2014 album, The Satanist—an album so openly steeped in Satanic revelry that it’s surprising that the surviving members of the Parent’s Music

Resource Center (the commitee responsible for the Parental Advisory stickers) didn’t reconvene just to exaggerate its harmful influence on young people.

A hell of an album needs a hell of a follow up and ILYAYD delivers. Its 12 tracks pursue themes of rebellion, self-discovery, and man’s place in the order of the universe. Its name is taken from a passage in Romans.

“That’s the biggest paradox of it all, you know,” Darski says. “I’m using quotes from The Bible to show my respect, my passion, and my love for Lucifer. For Satan. And for Dionysius, and for Icarus, and for Prometheus, and all the other, like, motifs of our creations. They’re the driving fuel of my art. Of Behemoth.”

Darski says he’s always identified with the outcasts of religion and mythology, seeing them as those who are most in need and more relatable than perfect angelic beings. There are a few good reasons to sympathize.

In 2007, Darski tore up a Bible on stage and was in and out of court on blasphemy charges in Poland for several years. In 2010, he was diagnosed with leukemia and was required to undergo a bone marrow transplant. Long is the road, and hard, and all that pain and suffering proved to be catalytic.

“When making The Satanist, I came out from a very dark hole,” Darski says. “And then I went through a very painful split with a person that I was in love with.

It’s kind of like being between a hammer and an anvil. On the one hand, you’re just gaining this extra chance and pulse from life and then something keeps you back. It’s reflected in our music.

It’s a balance. It’s always dark and light. They’re just leveling out and always dancing with each other.”

That hammering seems to have made Darski meticulous. Few albums are crafted with as much attention to detail as those as-

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

Sat., Nov. 17 (6:30 pm) Behemoth w/ At the Gates, Wolves in the Throne Room Union Hall $36.50 sembled by Behemoth. That means that Darski can be difficult to work with, and the overhead costs can be substantial, but the proof is always in the pudding.

Having already once confronted his mortality, and with his artistic appetites only momentarily satiated, Darski reflects on why he does what he does.

“It’s physics,” Darski says. “It’s biology. We will end at some point.

Maybe in 10 years, maybe in five years. This band is an extension of my life. One day I’m going to die. I’m going to be no more, but my records will survive. My videos will survive. And I hope that my shows will be remembered.”

Lucas Provencher

music 15

CELTIC PUNK

It’s a nice day for hay, Captain Tractor. / Lyle Bell

A 25-YEAR FAMILY DINNER Captain Tractor Returns to Ring Out 25 Years On bolic. Twenty five years puts Captain Tractor in a position that few bands, even some marriages, rarely attain. It would’ve been easy to fall apart when everyone got jobs and significant others and kids. Still easier back in the early days when touring was playing for a few tenners, notes, and a case of beer.

But the members of Captain Tractor see things a little differently.

Peters compares their get togethers as something closer to family dinners than rock and roll shows.

“Maybe because we don’t spend every day together like a lot of bands do,” he says. “We did for the first 10, 15 years. But lately? We’ve all got families and stuff so we don’t play a ton. We play a bunch of gigs a year but we’re not on the road all the time, so we’re not in everybody’s faces.”

To commemorate the occasion, Captain Tractor is assembling all members past and present for the Edmonton show, and releasing a new record 25 Years On , a massive 23-track collection of the band’s new, old, and unreleased material.

They’ve paired that with the release of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Limited Edition Captain

Fri., Nov. 16 and 17 (7 pm) Captain Tractor The Station on Jasper $30.48

H

ere is a short list of things that happened 25 years ago: Brian Mulroney’s resignation as prime minister, the siege at Waco in Texas, Pablo Escobar’s death on a rooftop, a Blackhawk helicopter down in Mogadishu, the theatrical release of the Super Mario Bros. movie, and a handful of kids in Edmonton started a Celtic folk band with punk sensibilities.

They are Jules Mounteer on percussion, Jonny Nordstrom on bass, Shannon Johnson on fiddle, Jason Kodie on keys, Scott Peters on strings and vocals, and Chris Wynters on guitar and vocals—or Captain Tractor for short.

“It’s unbelievable a little bit,” Wynters says. “But, at the same time, it’s like lots has happened. It feels like a long time sometimes, but it went by fast. You know, that cliché. But in band years it’s like 106 or something. There aren’t that many that are older than us in this town.”

Wynters isn’t being all that hyper-

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Tractor Spiced Rye Whiskey from Hansen Distillery. They made a similar move back in 2005 when they partnered with Alley Kat Brewery to make a Wheat Ale. “We decided that we were going to make this retrospective record,” Wynters says. “Release something.

We have, however you add it up, between eight and nine records or seven and nine records. There’s a live record in there that was released in Europe … There’s a history that follows through that line and those records and I know that we wanted to put something out that was going to kind of encapsulate each one of those recordings.”

Captain Tractor got its name after drawing names from a hat proved fruitless. None of the original members wanted anything that sounded too serious. It was a good reason to party and a better reason to see the world. They were the first to have a website in the Edmonton scene, and one of the early groups to experiment with crowd funding projects.

Twenty five years on and Captain Tractor is still experimenting. Despite the demands of life, lineup shifts, and changing cultural tastes, Captain Tractor is still moving forward with new material and a respect for the road that’s taken them there. Up the hill, but not over it.

“Nobody knew it was going to be a wave,” Peters says. “Sort of Canadian folk music became a big deal.

Spirit of the West had been around for, God, probably 10 years at that point. The big Cape Breton kind of thing hadn’t happened. Great Big Sea and all of that stuff. We were sort of part of that wave, and were just the band doing that kind of stuff on the prairies.”

Lucas Provencher

Punk

Jake Burns (third from left) is getting his U.S. citizenship, so watch out Trump. / Supplied.

Stiff little fingers: A punk rock legacy

Lead Songwriter of the Stiff Little Fingers Talks Punk Then and Now

T

here’s a terrific scene in the 2000 film High Fidelity where one of the Championship Vinyl employees, Dick (Todd Louiso) flirts with a customer revealing that Green Day is directly influenced by two bands: The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers.

The customer already knows about The Clash, so Dick plays “Suspect Device” from Stiff Little Fingers’ 1979 debut album Inflammable Material on the shop’s record player. Another customer tunes in and asks “Is this the new Green Day?” It’s a harmless little poke at Green Day somewhat ripping off another band, but it also touches on how influential Stiff Little Fingers was, and still is, for punk rock.

“When the likes of Green Day, Dropkick Murphys, and even U2— although I can’t for the life of me hear the influence—said we were a big influence, I think we got an influx of their young curious audiences,” says lead songwriter of Stiff Little Fingers, Jake Burns. “It’s like when we started out, we referred to it as the ‘Iggy Pop Effect.’

I’m pretty sure Iggy saw a rise of younger fans going to his shows who were fans of ours because he was an influence on us.”

Stiff Little Fingers formed in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1977, during the height of The Troubles—a conflict sometimes described as a “guerilla war” between the nationalists (Irish Republican Army) and unionists (groups that favour a union with the British government). Burns formed the band after he discovered The Clash, showing him the “validity of punk.”

“The Clash was my Road to Damascus moment to seeing punk as a long-term option,” Burns says. “It was ‘Career Opportunities’ [a song found on The Clash’s debut] that made me take notice. It’s such a magnificently ironic title because, at the time, unemployment was at an all-time high in the U.K., and there really weren’t any career opportunities. That really hit home for me. It almost gave permission to write about my own life.”

Burns then wrote about the band’s experiences during The Troubles, making songs like “Suspect Device,” “State of Emergency,” and “Alternative Ulster,” and gaining them radio play throughout the U.K.. It was pretty risky making songs about the political conflict in Northern Ireland considering there was a war going on, but Burns didn’t see any way around it.

“Looking back on the Irish songs, at the time we weren’t really concerned by it. We did get a couple warning shots. There was this one time our promoter was called by the IRA and they said ‘If they play in Drogheda, they won’t get out alive.’ But we played and we were fine. I guess it was the recklessness of youth cause we said ‘Fuck it.

We’re playing.’ Looking back on it now as a 60-year-old man I’m going “What the hell were we thinking?’’ Burns laughs.

He also remembers the “skinhead, right-wing knuckleheads,” showing up to Stiff Little Fingers shows and trying to trash them and the band’s fans.

Sat., Nov. 24 (8 pm) Stiff Little Fingers w/ The Mahones Starlite Room $39.50 “We were very good friends with The Specials and when they came along, they adopted all the idiots. We may have played Rock Against Racism [a campaign in late 1970s U.K. that was a response to the increase of racism and white nationalism] shows, but The Specials, being both white and black guys, they embodied it on stage,” Burns says. “I remember saying to Brad [John Bradbury] the drummer ‘When you guys came along you took a lot of heat off of us,’ and he sort of grinned ruefully and went ‘Yeah. Thanks a bunch for that.’”

More than 40 years since Stiff Little Fingers’ inception, Burns is still outspoken about his political views. He now lives in Chicago and has just been approved for his U.S. citizenship.

“I’ve been there for 12 years on green cards and hadn’t felt that need to get citizenship, but the night Mr. Trump was elected, I turned to my wife and said ‘OK I’m going to become a citizen. I need to vote now,’” he says. “I’m not the current incumbent’s biggest fan. My wife bought me a tshirt and said ‘You can wear this at your swearing-in ceremony.’ It says ‘Impeach him now.’”

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

Featuring all 5 original members with singer Ted Okos

November 17 Tickets $34.95 plus gst Some conditions may apply. Promotion subject to change without notice and AGLC approval.

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music 17

UPCOMING

NEW SOUNDS

EVENTS

SOUTH EDMONTON COMMON NOV 16

CRYWANK w/ SISTER RAY & GIRL/VICES

NOV 17

LEO MARTINEZ PROJECT

NOV 21

CHASTITY w/ GUESTS

WEST EDMONTON MALL NOV 16

HEWSON GREY w/ YIKES

NOV 19

FLOW AFTER DARK LIVE DJ YOGA w/ YEG.date

NOV 24

TIGHT WAD HILL GREEN DAY TRIBUTE BAND

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UPCOMING LIVE: NOV 16 - CAPTAIN TRACTOR 17 - CAPTAIN TRACTOR 18 - THE DUNGAREES - SUNDAY COUNTRY NIGHTS 23 - REVOLUTION ENGINE 24 - MIKE PLUME 25 - LIVE MUSIC GREY CUP PARTY 28 - JOEY LANDRETH 30 - YUKON BLONDE/THE ZOLAS

DEC 1 - YUKON BLONDE / THE ZOLAS 2 - BIX MIX BOYS - SUNDAY COUNTRY NIGHTS 7 - SPARROW BLUE 8 - CRAIG CARDIFF 14 - LUSITANIA LIGHTS, GOOD NATURE, REBECCA LAPPA, EVERGREEN, AND RETROFILE 15 - KHALED RAHIME, JENESIA, LAUREN MARIE, AMBER AVINA, VANESSA DOMINGUES 16 - JAYDEE BIXBY - SUNDAY COUNTRY NIGHTS 21 - SMALL OFFICE LIVE MUSIC CHRISTMAS PARTY

Charles Bradley Black Velvet Daptone Records When a musician passes on and a record company decides to release their posthumous album, I’m usually pretty wary about seeking it out. You have to wonder, did the artist even want the release to happen? Or is it the record company digging through unreleased singles to cash in on the shock of the person’s death?

That being said, Daptone Records has always been known as a reputable and honourable label, so I decided to check out Charles Bradley’s last batch of songs, Black Velvet.

Much like my experience of listening to the “Screaming Eagle of Soul’s” older work, I was left dancing in my seat with a big, stupid, loving grin.

Taking its name from the stage name Bradley used while he was a professional James Brown impersonator, Black Velvet is filled with groovy, visceral, masterworks of soul and funk. Bradley just has a way with words, taking moments of pain and sorrow and turning them into hopeful ballads of love and glory.

The album bounces from beginning to end, opening with the impassioned horn section on “Can’t Fight the Feeling,” underneath a liquid guitar line. It wouldn’t be a Charles Bradley album without some sultry sax, and this album is full of it—especially on the instrumental title track. There are also three fantastic covers: Neil Young’s well known “Heart of Gold,” and Rodriguez’s perhaps less known “Slip Away.” Then there’s Nirvana’s “Stay Away,” which really fits as a soulful groove ballad. Bradley adds his own flair to each, reimagining them as funky pop testimonies.

Black Velvet may be bittersweet, but it’s a proper send-off for one of the greats.

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

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Jonathan Something Outlandish Poetica Solitaire Recordings There’s just something about Jonathan Something’s new album Outlandish Poetica that clicks. The deVUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

but album by Brooklyn, Connecticut’s Jon Searles (who performs under the moniker Jonathan Something) is a catchy as hell romp through the strange and fascinating mind of Searles. The album has a thoroughly vintage psychedelic vibe similar to The Soft Boys, but with a more modern edge that places it comfortably alongside the likes of The Flaming Lips. Throughout the album’s nine songs, the sound jumps from melodic to surreally frantic seamlessly, but never ceases to keep your head bobbing and your toe tapping.

Narratively, Outlandish Poetica can only be described as quirky— and that’s an understatement.

The title track of the album tells the story of Larry Bird and the 1986 All Star team ambushing Something in a back alley and robbing him—quirky, to say the least.

This tongue-in-cheek mindset fuels the entire album, but somehow, at the end of it all, the album comes off feeling truly personal and strangely emotional.

Outlandish Poetica is truly that—outlandish and poetic, and by the end of the album you want to hear it all over again.

Alexander Sorochan

St.Arnaud Morning, Buddy Soaring Eagle Records St.Arnaud’s debut EP feels like a deep thaw after a long, cold, winter. Yearning, pensive, and stoic, Morning, Buddy is filled with emotionally-charged songs that understate themselves in their reserved delivery. The six-track EP is filled with heart-wrenching tracks that allow you to enter the mind of Ian St.Arnaud for a brief 19 minutes.

Taking influence from folk, pop, lounge jazz, blues, and even waltz, Morning, Buddy makes for an eclectic mix that could be described as prairie blues. A gentle and accessible listen, the EP is undeniably enjoyable. St.Arnaud utilizes many folkpop standards but sets itself apart with its storytelling. The particularly soulful track “Lovelock Waltz” stands out with its chilling vocal delivery and resonant lyrics.

Songwriting is a strong point for St.Arnaud—each track tells a meaningful story. “Morning Dreamers” introduces the album with feelings of wistfulness and being woken abruptly from a deep sleep. “Dark Horse” and “Spin It Again” tell tales of exhaustion and disillusionment—themes often touched on in Morning, Buddy. Emotional exhaustion and the navigation of internal turmoil are overarching concepts throughout the album and are present in lines like “I’m so tired, of all the noise, of circumstance, of pomp and poise” (from “Spin It Again”). St.Arnaud’s deeply personal writing leaves the listener with a genuine understanding of the sentiments behind the album.

Tasteful production allows the emotive and full vocal delivery to cut through as a main focus in the music. Passionate and sensitive: Ian St.Arnaud’s beautifully dynamic voice and honest writing carry the listener through the emotional journey of Morning, Buddy.

Ellen Reade

ALBERTA-WIDECLASSIFIEDS

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

VUEPICKS The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra // Thu., Nov. 22 (8 pm) I’ve seen this group four, maybe five times, and it’s always a good time. If Canada had a band for cultural representation, it would be Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra. The group consists of members from all over the world, allowing the group to dive into gypsy jazz, European and Spaniard folk. The Misery Mountain Boys will open. Drinking and acting like a fool is encouraged. (The Aviary, $20) Crywank w/ Girls/Vices // Fri., Nov. 16 (8:30 pm) Crywank is an anti-folk band that specializes in very lo-fi produced work. Its existence is almost a big fuck you to the over-produced pop dribble in this day and age. I can’t for the life of me tell if Crywank is supposed to come off genuine or fall into that category of satire rock. The newest album—if you could even call it that—features a song about a guy finding no food in his home, only “Cat Food.” That’s it. Drone-folk witch Girls/Vices will open, so bring some tissues. (The Rec Room South, $20)

Kim Mitchell // Sat., Nov. 24 (9 pm) I was cleaning my patio lanterns the other day when I saw that Kim Mitchell was coming to town.

“That guy is sure a wild party” I thought to myself as I looked at the stars in the sky. Nobody hurts and nobody cries, nobody drowns and nobody dies—words to live by. I think I’ll have a drink.

Ah. No beer. Might as well go for a soda. (Shaw Conference Centre, tickets at Ticketmaster.ca) The Deep Dark Woods + Kacy and Clayton // Sun., Nov. 18 (7 pm) I can’t think of a better co-headlining show than The Deep Dark Woods with Kacy and Clayton.

The Saskatchewan acts compliment each other so well. Kacy Anderson’s vocals—featured on the latest Deep Dark Woods album, Yarrow— are haunting. She’s a modern-day Joni Mitchell and only some have taken notice. It’s psych rock meets alternative country, so dust off your boots.

(Starlite Room, $14.99)

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Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra are ready to bust open the prairies. / Supplied

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SAVAGELOVE ROPE MOPE

I’ve always wanted to tie girls up, but I can never convince a woman to let me. Lately, I’ve been exploring “bondage singles” sites online, but I’m totally new to this. How do I know which ones I can trust? There are hundreds of profiles, but it’s hard for me to believe I can really just answer an ad, meet a girl in a hotel room, and tie her up. It can’t be that simple, can it?

THE INTERNET’S ENTICING DATES It can’t be and it isn’t, TIED, because no woman in her right mind is going to let some man she’s never met before tie her up in a hotel room. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen or hasn’t ever happened, but women stupid enough to take that risk are rare—and it should go without saying that any singles website promising to provide lonely guys with an endless stream of stupid women is a scam. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Justin Gorbey is a bondage practitioner and educator, as well as a professional artist and tattooer.

Gorbey ties up a lot of women, as you can see on his Instagram account (@daskinbaku), and he doesn’t think you’re going to find someone on a “bondage singles” site, either.

“I would recommend this person step away from the dating sites and step into some educational group meet-ups or ‘munches,’” said Gorbey. “TIED or any new person should focus on groups that match their own desires/ interests, and connections will develop organically with time and effort—with a lot of fucking time and effort!”

Kink social and education groups organize online but meet up offline—face-to-face, IRL, in meat-

Dan Savage

space—at munches (educational talks, no actual play) and play parties (actual play, hence the name).

To find the kink organization(s) in your area, TIED, Gorbey suggests that you create a profile on FetLife, the biggest social network for kinky people, and start connecting with other like-minded kinksters at munches.

“Going to munches will not only give TIED a chance to meet people,” said Gorbey.

“They’ll give him a ‘guide’ for how to act—most groups generally go over house safe words/ etiquette/rules and consent/risk awareness at the beginning of a munch—and they’ll also give what I call a ‘visual vocabulary’ of what a real-life scene looks like. Porn and fetish fantasy often distort our perceptions of what is plausible or even possible for real people in a reallife scenario. Just watching others play helped me identify the things I found attractive as both a top and a bottom.”

There are lots of men and women out there who are interested in bondage, TIED, and the organized kink scene is the best place to find safe and sane play partners. You’ll be able to interact with kinky women at munches and parties, women who will be a lot likelier to let you tie them up after you’ve demonstrated you’re safe and sane yourself.

“There are hours of intimacy before and after the moment captured for an Instagram photo,” said Gorbey. “These relationships require trust, vulnerability, and communication. These acts require a lot of hard work and commitment, and they expose a person to risk. That’s why the only responsible answer to TIED’s question is to seek education first and play partners second.”

Justin Gorbey teaches workshops and intensives on a number of subjects centering on bondage and power exchange dynamics.

To see his work and learn about his workshops, follow him on Instagram @daskinbaku.

DUMP HIS ASS

I’m a monogamous woman in a committed relationship with a nonmonogamous man. I try to be cool about his other relationships, but I’m trying to figure out how to bring some fire back into ours. I miss oral sex, but that’s not on the table because he “doesn’t like” how I taste. I’ve suggested bondage and anal, but he says he’s “too tired.” He can make plans with others to have exciting new experiences, but he doesn’t have any energy for me. I’m at a loss. Counselling is not an option for us because he doesn’t believe in that stuff.

Any suggestions?

SEEKING ADVENTEROUS MONOGAMISHAMY Yes, stop doing his laundry or paying his rent or preparing his meals—stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that your shit boyfriend values and is reluctant to give up, SAM, because it’s clear he doesn’t value you. DTMFA.

PEGGERTON

I’m a 44-year-old straight woman. I’ve been married for 14 years to a husband I love very much.

We have two small children.

Early in our courtship, I discovered his interest in bottoming during fem-Dom pegging sessions. I GGG’d his desires, and we explored them. He bought a variety of dildos, strap-on harnesses, and kink ephemera, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the few times we’ve done this. But I’ve grown less interested over

the years. We both work, there are kids to look after—and when we have sex, I just want to get it over with and move on with our day, not deal with the pageantry of dress up, stiletto heels, collars and cuffs, lubricating buttholes, graduating to bigger dildos in a session, etc.

The vanilla-leaning sex we have is great, and we are both into it, but I know being bound and pegged is his fantasy and he is less fulfilled by not having it on the menu. How do I get more motivated to indulge him? Do I have to give him a pass to seek out a pro-Dom to indulge this?

(Not sure how I feel about that.)

Ultimately, I don’t hate indulging his fantasy, and it really does it for him. Not sure what to do.

FREQUENTLY EVADING MY DUDE’S OBSESSIONS MOSTLY You discovered your husband’s kinks during your courtship— an unspecified period of time prior to the wedding, the kids, etc. And while you say you’ve GGG’d his kinks over the 14+ years you’ve been together, FEMDOM, it’s hard to square that claim with this: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed [pegging him] the few times we’ve done this.”

Indulging someone a few times over 14+ years hardly counts as GGG’ing their desires.

Being “good, giving, and game” for anything—within reason— doesn’t obligate us to do whatever our partners want. But if something is truly central to your partner’s erotic self, then being GGG—being a loving partner—means making an accommodation, FEMDOM, finding a work-around that allows your partner to express this aspect of their sexuality without requiring you to do something you find tedious, a turnoff, or traumatizing.

That accommodation can be something as simple as cheerfully allowing your partner to indulge their kinks with porn or during solo play (emphasis on the word cheerfully) to something as challenging as allowing your partner to explore their kinks with others, e.g., play partners or professionals.

If your husband isn’t feeling neglected—if he enjoys hurry-upand-get-it-over-with sex as much as you do and wants to be tied up and pegged only once every five years—then you don’t have a problem. But if he’s feeling resentful, you do have a problem.

Resentment has a way of metastasizing into bitterness, and bitterness has a way of curdling into the kind of anger that can doom a relationship.

So check in with your husband, FEMDOM, and be clear about your feelings: You don’t hate indulging his fantasy, but you’re both busy, you have small children, and his fantasies require a lot of prep and setup. Tell him you want him to be happy—and, hey, if he is happy, then great.

But if he’s not, then it’s time to talk accommodation. You don’t want him to go without, you don’t want him to see a pro, and you don’t want him to feel bad about the sex you do have and both enjoy. So how about this: You get grandparents or good friends to look after your kids once a year while you spend a restful weekend in a nice hotel pegging your husband’s ass between spa treatments.

On the Lovecast, drinking in moderation—is this even possible?: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITMFA.org

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JONESIN’ CROSSWORD

Matt Jones

“Free Reign”--another freestyle for everyone.

Across

1 Competition with bonus questions 9 “Let’s do this!”

14 Buster’s stance, maybe 16 MacGowan of the Pogues 17 “Animal” band whose name was inspired by In-N-Out Burger signage 18 Staves (off) 19 Word after fake or spray 20 “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Ferrer 21 Mid-sized string ensemble 22 “... so long ___ both shall live” 24 ___ Plaines, Illinois 25 Canadian novelist (and partner of Margaret Atwood) Gibson 26 Closes up 28 Jared of “My So-Called Life” 30 Bluster 31 SFO posting 33 Verbose 35 Comment in a Johnny Paycheck song title 39 Scans over 40 Copier mishap 42 First (and last) king of Albania 43 Like 6 and 10 44 Yoke mates 46 Stuttgart sausage 50 Bring by the truckload 52 Former Cambodian premier Lon ___ 54 Disney tune subtitled “A Pirate’s Life for Me” 55 Cafeteria stack 56 Hill who joined the “SNL” FiveTimers Club in 2018 58 No-good heap of junk, euphemistically 59 “Sizwe Banzi is Dead” playwright Fugard 60 Handel pieces 62 Disney princess from New Orleans 63 1990s Nintendo cartridge attachment used for cheat codes 64 “Melrose Place” actor Rob 65 Pennsylvania Dutch symbols on barns

Down

1 Airline based in a suburb called Mascot 2 Anxiety

22 at the back

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Interior designer Dorothy Draper said she wished there was a single word that meant “exciting, frightfully important, irreplaceable, deeply satisfying, basic, and thrilling, all at once.” I wonder if such a word exists in the Chamicuro language spoken by a few Peruvians or the Sarsi tongue spoken by the Tsuut’ina Nation in Alberta. In any case, I’m pleased to report that for the next few weeks, many of you Aries people will embody and express that rich blend of qualities. I have coined a new word to capture it: “tremblissimo.”

3 2017 biopic that won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar 4 West Coast red, briefly 5 Ram 6 “No turn ___” 7 “Night” author Elie 8 Frank who won a Pulitzer for “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” 9 Words between a letter and a word starting with that letter 10 Jim Carrey movie directed by Ben Stiller 11 Afro-Cuban religious practice 12 Immediately available, like video 13 Golden Years resources 15 “The Puzzle Palace” org.

23 Age Bilbo Baggins turns at the beginning of “The Lord of the Rings” 25 Morticia’s husband 27 Ending for ham or young 29 Pine product 32 Spicy spread 34 It may be mopped 35 Watch from the bleachers 36 Some Danish cheeses 37 Collapsible wear for some music fans 38 Word on two Monopoly spaces 41 Hanukkah centerpiece 45 Generic 47 Rodeo skill 48 Certain winner 49 Cornhole plays 51 Mallorca y Menorca, e.g.

53 Glove material 56 Workout on the streets 57 Pen occupants 61 Washington-based sporting goods store ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to my astrological intuition, you’re entering a phase when you will derive special benefit from these five observations by poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. 1. “There are truths that you can only say after having won the right to say them.” 2. “True realism consists in revealing the surprising things that habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.” 3.

“What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.” 4. “You should always talk well about yourself!

The word spreads around, and in the end, no one remembers where it started.” 5. “We shelter an angel within us. We must be the guardians of that angel.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Adolescence used to be defined as a phase that lasted from ages 13 to 19. But scientists writing in the journal The Lancet say that in modern culture, the current span is from ages 10 to 24. Puberty comes earlier now, in part because of shifts in eating habits and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. At the same time, people hold onto their youth longer because they wait a while before diving into events associated with the initiation into adulthood, like getting married, finishing education, and having children. Even if you’re well past 24, Gemini, I suggest you revisit and reignite your juvenile stage in the coming weeks. You need to reconnect with your wild innocence. You’ll benefit from immersing yourself in memories of coming of age. Be 17 or 18 again, but this time armed with all you have learned since.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian baseball pitcher Satchel Paige had a colourful career characterized by creative showmanship. On some occasions, he commanded his infielders to sit down and loll on the grass behind him, whereupon he struck out three batters in a row—ensuring no balls were hit to the spots vacated by his teammates. Paige’s success came in part because of his wide variety of tricky pitches, described by author Buck O’Neil as “the bat-dodger, the two-hump blooper, the four-day creeper, the dipsy-do, the Little Tom, the Long Tom, the bee ball, the wob-

bly ball, the hurry-up ball, and the nothin’ ball.” I bring this to your attention, Cancerian, because now is an excellent time for you to amp up your charisma and use all your tricky pitches.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head,” writes fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss.

“Always. All the time. We build ourselves out of that story.” So what’s your story, Leo? The imminent future will be an excellent time to get clear about the dramatic narrative you weave. Be especially alert for demoralizing elements in your tale that may not in fact be true, and that therefore you should purge. I think you’ll be able to draw on extra willpower and creative flair if you make an effort to re-frame the story you tell yourself so that it’s more accurate and uplifting.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In describing a man she fell in love with, author Elizabeth Gilbert wrote that he was both “catnip and kryptonite to me.” If you’ve spent time around cats, you understand that catnip can be irresistible to them.

As for kryptonite: it’s the one substance that weakens the fictional superhero Superman. Is there anything in your life that resembles Gilbert’s paramour? A place or situation or activity or person that’s both catnip and kryptonite?

I suspect you now have more ability than usual to neutralize its obsessive and debilitating effects on you. That could empower you to make a good decision about the relationship you’ll have with it in the future.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I had to learn very early not to limit myself due to others’ limited imaginations,” testifies Libran astronaut Mae Jemison. She adds, “I have learned these days never to limit anyone else due to my own limited imagination.” Are those projects on your radar, Libra?

I hope so. You now have extra power to resist being shrunk or hobbled by others’ images of you.

You also have extra power to help your friends and loved ones grow and thrive as you expand your images of them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The U.S. is the world’s top exporter of food. In second place is the Netherlands, which has 0.4 percent as much land as the U.S. How do Dutch farmers accomplish this miraculous feat? In part because of their massive greenhouses, which occupy vast areas of non-urbanized space. Another key factor is their unprecedented productivity, which dovetails with a commitment to maximum sustainability.

For instance, they produce 20 tons of potatoes per acre, compared with the global average of nine. And they do it using less water and pesticides. In my long-

VUEWEEKLY.com | NOV 15 - NOV 21, 2018

Rob Brezsny

term outlook for you Scorpios, I see you as having a metaphorical similarity to Dutch farmers.

During the next 12 months, you have the potential to make huge impacts with your focused and efficient efforts.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The world is like a dropped pie most of the time,” writes author Elizabeth Gilbert. “Don’t kill yourself trying to put it back together.

Just grab a fork and eat some of it off the floor. Then carry on.”

From what I can tell about the state of your life, Sagittarius, the metaphorical pie has indeed fallen onto the metaphorical floor.

But it hasn’t been there so long that it has spoiled. And the floor is fairly clean, so the pie won’t make you sick if you eat it. My advice is to sit down on the floor and eat as much as you want— then carry on.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Novelist Anita Desai writes, “Isn’t it strange how life won’t flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forward in a kind of flood?”

I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect that the locks she refers to will soon open for you. Events may not exactly flow like a flood, but I’m guessing they will at least surge and billow and gush. That could turn out to be nerve-racking and strenuous, or else fun and interesting. Which way it goes will depend on your receptivity to transformation.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Miracles come to those who risk defeat in seeking them,” writes author Mark Helprin. “They come to those who have exhausted themselves completely in a struggle to accomplish the impossible.” Those descriptions could fit you well in the coming weeks, but with one caveat. You’ll have no need to take on the melodramatic, almost desperate mood Helprin seems to imply is essential. Just the opposite, in fact. Yes, risk defeat and be willing to exhaust yourself in the struggle to accomplish the impossible; but do so in a spirit of exuberance, motivated by the urge to play.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear,” warned author G. K. Chesterton.

“It annoys them very much.” My teachers have offered me related advice. Don’t ask the gods to intervene, they say, until you have done all you can through your own efforts. Furthermore, don’t ask the gods for help unless you are prepared to accept their help if it’s different from what you thought it should be. I bring these considerations to your attention, Pisces, because you currently meet all these requirements. So I say go right ahead and seek the gods’ input and assistance.

CURTIS HAUSER

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THIS IS AN ADVANCE READING COPY. DO NOT QUOTE FROM THIS MATERIAL WITHOUT PERMISSION OR WITHOUT COMPARING WITH THE FINISHED BOOK.

From the brains behind Make It, one of Canada’s largest and most successful craft shows, comes this book to help creative entrepreneurs turn their great ideas into reality.

On sale date

Make It Happen is the how-to book to help entrepreneurs sharpen their creative vision, figure out—and overcome— what’s holding them back from turning their great ideas into reality, and get started making it happen.

Jenna Herbut is the brains behind Make It, one of Canada’s largest and most successful craft shows, and Make It Happen is packed with her hard-won insight and inspiration. The book contains lessons learned over Jenna’s entrepreneurial journey; case studies and tips from creative, courageous entrepreneurs who realized their dreams by overcoming fear and resistance; and invaluable “Make It Real” exercises to get you practicing and applying new techniques, skills and ideas.

In Make It Happen you’ll discover how to:

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FROM THE FOUNDER OF

THE MAKE IT SHOW

November 6, 2018 $19.95 CDN / $16.95 USD Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9952665-3-7 Also available in ebook Published by Page Two Books www.pagetwostrategies.com Dates, prices and manufacturing details are subject to change or cancellation without notice.

• Tap into your unique passion and let it shine • Think and act to make it happen • Figure out what to do when it’s just not happening By the end of Make It Happen you’ll be well on your way to becoming one of a beautiful breed of risk takers who are willing to put it all on the line to make their vision a reality.

JENNA HERBUT is the creator of the Booty Beltz, which sold into 120 boutiques all over Canada, the United States, and Japan and was featured in Flare, Elle Canada, LouLou, and on CityLine, CTV, and Global news. After touring as a vendor in craft shows and festivals across the country, Herbut founded and promoted her own fair, Make It, which quickly expanded to a bi-annual, three-city event. Make It has become a well-known community for both new and established makers, and boasts 100,000+ shoppers yearly. Since the inception of the Make It show, Herbut has expanded her business to include Conscious Lab, which is a community space for creative entrepreneurs located in Vancouver, Canada.

THE CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO TRANSFORMING YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY Photo credit: Tom Hawkins

jennaherbut.com makeitshow.ca

24 EXCELSIOR!

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