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The Art of Living’s heritage recommendations 5 The Force Awakens restores balance to the franchise 11

ISSUE: 1052 DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015 COVER PHOTO: MEAGHAN BAXTER

LISTINGS

ARTS / 10 MUSIC / 23 EVENTS / 25 CLASSIFIED / 26 ADULT / 27

FRONT

4

Checking in on the status of the Art of Living's heritage recommendations // 5

DISH

6

Vue's restaurant critic selects his top picks from a year of eating in Edmonton's restaurants // 6

ARTS

8

Acclaimed dancer Jeff Mortensen returns to his folkloric roots with Clara's Dream // 8

FILM

11

The Force Awakens plays it safe, reestablishes trust in the Star Wars franchise // 11

POP

14

Searching for humanity in the wasteland of Fallout 4 // 14

MUSIC

19

Gift the simplest of traditions,

sharing a meal

Murder City Sparrows returns for the send-off show it never had // 19

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UP FRONT 3

FRONT POLITICALINTERFERENCE

NEWS EDITOR: mel priestley MEL@vueweekly.com

Ricardo Acuña // ricardo@vueweekly.com

Stop opposing and start proposing

Alberta's political right has totally failed in offering a credible alternative to the NDP If you've spent any time at all in the last few months scrolling through social media, listening to talk radio or reading the op-ed pages in Alberta's major newspapers, you have no doubt seen and heard the chorus of criticisms from Alberta's political right about the government's economic policies.

Spearheaded by the usual suspects on the province's extreme right—the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Rebel Media, the Wildrose Party—all of the postings, messages and news releases seem to follow the same format and use the same language.

Whether in response to the proposed carbon tax, farmworker safety, investment in infrastructure, renewed progressivity in the income-tax system or the increased minimum wage, the reaction always reads like some crazed mad lib warning of dire consequences. The policy in question is always risky, dangerous or socialist, and will result in the decimation of some industry and put some made-up number of Albertans out of work.

For proof of the imminent disaster, they simply seem to quote each other: the Wildrose Party cites a survey from the CFIB, Rebel Media

DYERSTRAIGHT

quotes the Wildrose Party, and the CFIB and CTF—when they're not quoting the Fraser Institute—simply quote each other.

What this well-orchestrated chorus of doom and gloom has completely neglected to do, however, is offer up any credible alternatives beyond organizing a recall of the government. Not one of these groups has offered up an alternative budget that might detail how they propose cutting $5 to $6 billion in provincial spending.

None of them has laid out a plan for actually reducing the province's carbon footprint without a carbon tax and investment in renewables. The best they seem to be able to offer is demanding that the policy in question not be implemented. That's it. Fix the problem by maintaining the status quo.

The Wildrose opposition did call for an emergency debate in the legislature on the social cost of the economic downturn and state

of the economy, but there was no indication that they wanted to do anything about it but debate. The party's press release on the subject suggested that, somehow, simply having a debate would "show Albertans that we are working towards ways to bring back economic stability and reduce unemployment."

It also suggested that "the risky

patch wants, then our economy will improve and stabilize, people will start hiring again and all Albertans will be happy, healthy and rich.

The problem with that prescription is that it is completely disconnected from reality. Our provincial economy and our government finances are a mess right now because after 20 years of low taxes, low government spending and the lowest minimum wage in the country, oil and gas became the only show in town. When the price of oil dropped, which it has been known to do on occasion, there was nowhere else for people to work and no sustainable source of government revenues.

Yet somehow, these folks would like us to believe that returning to that state of affairs would yield growth and stability for everyone.

You can't say government finances are a mess while leaving taxes where they were. You can't complain about the impacts of job

What this well-orchestrated chorus of doom and gloom has completely neglected to do, however, is offer up any credible alternatives beyond organizing a recall of the government NDP economic policies" were compounding the problems caused by the bottom falling out of oil prices.

The implication in all these messages seems to be that if we keep taxes low, don't reduce climate emissions, keep wages low, stop spending on health care and education, fire a bunch of government workers and do whatever the oil

losses and then advocate laying off thousands of public-sector workers. And you can't say you want a vibrant and stable economy while advocating for policies that leave us dependent on oil and gas.

Opposition parties and advocacy groups have a critical job in a democracy. Part of that job is to critique government policies and hold them accountable to the public.

The other part of that job is to highlight options and put forth workable alternatives so that citizens can determine for themselves if the government is working in their interests or if there is a better way.

So far, Alberta's right has failed miserably on that second front, suggesting that either there are no workable alternatives to what the government is doing, or that they are happy to abdicate that portion of their public responsibility.

Hopefully the new year will bring a commitment from these groups to stop opposing for the sake of ideological rhetoric and start proposing for the sake of the public interest.

Albertans deserve no less.V Ricardo Acuña is the executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan, public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.

GWYNNE DYER // GWYNNE@vueweekly.com

Syria: not at peace, but maybe a ceasefire The proposed Syrian peace deal is actually about enabling the destruction of Islamic State Abu Muhammad al-Golani is an Islamist fanatic, a head-chopper (although only in moderation) and the leader of the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate that is classified by the United States as "terrorist." He spent almost a decade killing American occupation troops and Shia civilians in Iraq as a loyal member of the Sunni extremist organization that is now called Islamic State, before going home to Syria in 2011.

He was sent home to create a Syrian clone of what was then called Islamic State in Iraq, on the orders of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State and now the selfproclaimed "Caliph" of all Muslims.

Golani named the Syrian branch the Nusra Front, and it did so well that he broke with Islamic State and went out on his own in 2013.

There was a three-month turf war between Islamic State and the Nusra Front in Syria in early 2014 that killed an estimated 3000 jihadis. Islamic State won it and now controls most of eastern Syria (and all of western Iraq). Golani managed to hang on to

4 up front

northwestern Syria, where the Nusra Front and another extreme Islamist organization, Ahrar ash-Sham, now completely dominate a rebel alliance that also includes several smaller "moderate" outfits.

So you would not expect Golani to favour a peace deal that left the brutal Assad regime, secular in form but Shia-dominated, in power in Damascus. And indeed he does not: in a rare interview recently, he condemned the peace deal being cooked up by the US and Russia as "unacceptable." It was, he said, a plot to merge more moderate rebel fighters with Assad's forces in order to fight extremist groups like his own and Islamic State.

Golani was right to be suspicious, and yet he may go along with the deal in the end, because it isn't really a permanent peace settlement that is being discussed. It's actually just a ceasefire that will leave all the players in Syria in control of the territory they now hold—except for Islamic State, which they can then all concentrate on destroying.

This is the sort of Machiavel-

lian thinking that caused Russian President Vladimir Putin to accuse Washington recently of "dividing terrorists into good and bad ones," but it's just as much a part of Russian thinking. When Moscow started bombing the rebels in Syria in September to save the Assad regime from collapse, it bombed them all indiscriminately: the Nusra Front, Islamic State, even the "moderates," if it could find them.

But it quickly became clear that what Russia had in mind, after stabilizing the battlefronts, was precisely what Golani was condemning: a ceasefire that would effectively partition Syria between the Assad regime and the various rebel groups, and enable them all to turn on Islamic State.

You can't admit that that's what you are doing, of course, so you talk in terms of a peace settlement.

That's what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Foreign Secretary John Kerry were doing in Moscow on Tuesday, and the result is that a United Nations Security Council resolution endorsing the

Syrian peace process will probably be passed on Friday.

The current round of "peace talks" began in Vienna on October 23 with no Syrians present—just Russia, the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It subsequently expanded to include about 20 countries, and the organizers are now deciding which Syrians can attend the next round of talks, probably early in the new year.

On one side, obviously, will be the the representatives of the Assad regime. On the other side will be some of the leaders of the armed opposition—but not all of them.

Islamic State won't be there, of course, and at the moment the Nusra Front says it won't be either.

Since those are the two most powerful groups fighting the Assad regime, what's the point of talks?

But the Nusra Front's close ally, Ahrar ash-Sham, did show up at last week's meeting in Riyadh where decisions were being made on which groups could attend the peace talks. At one point it walked

VUEWEEKLY.com | dec 24 – dec 30, 2015

out—and then, after some further thought, it added its signature to the joint declaration.

The Islamists of the Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham are clearly in two minds about a ceasefire (disguised as a peace agreement). On one hand, it would leave the Assad regime in power. On the other, it would give them time to consolidate their control over the territory they now hold, and maybe to eliminate their most dangerous rival, Islamic State. So in the end, they may go along with the idea.

It wouldn't be perfect, and it wouldn't necessarily be permanent either. But it would stop most of the killing, it would at least contain—if not eliminate—Islamic State, and it might even let some of the refugees go home. It's basically a Russian initiative, but Moscow is wisely letting the US take the lead now. If anybody has a better idea, please let us all know.V Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

FEATURE // HERITAGE

BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE Checking in on the status of the Art of Living's heritage recommendations

B

ack in October, when Vue ran a story on the Art of Living document—the city's 10-year cultural plan for arts and heritage in Edmonton, currently eight years into its 10-year outlook—our focus was admittedly a bit one-sided. We skewed heavily towards discussing the plan's arts recommendations and barely touched on the second side: its plans for preserving and celebrating heritage in the city.

This, then, is a rejoinder to that article, focused on the document's heritage recommendations and how far they've come as the plan nears its conclusion.

Which, to Heritage Council Executive Director David Ridley, continues to be not just an effective guiding document, but also one backed up by resources and engagement from the city.

"I think what's remarkable about the Art of Living to me is just, even here in year eight of its mandate, is its remarkable endurance," he says. "It continues to be a touchstone; it didn't end up being one of those, 'Oh, that's nice' strategic plans—we'll put it here on the shelf and see what happens."

The Heritage Council itself was the plan's first heritage recommendation, and perhaps the most high-profile achievement on that side of the plan.

Some other recommendations, like the creation of an Edmonton City Museum and an overall museums strategy are in progress but not yet finished; others are a little trickier to trace, like creating an "ongoing, structured dialogue" between the province and city on matters of heritage.

As the first recommendation, the council's stated mandate is "to provide a forum for analyzing, discussing and sharing heritage issues in Edmonton, to advocate for a vibrant heritage community and heritage programs that benefit all Edmontonians." In terms of function, one of its best successes has been to give the heritage community an anchoring nexus to communicate with and through.

In terms of creating that "vibrant heritage community," the council doesn't go by one fixed definition of heritage, Ridley explains. The definition's more dynamic than that—to whose heritage are we referring? What elements of the culture or place should be preserved?—and so the council's approach has to match that malleability.

"We think of [heritage] as, how do we connect the many streams of human experience, memory and history that are present here in the city?" he says. "Whether that's about the long presence of the aboriginal community, or about the Syrian refugees who are going to arrive on our doorstep. All of

those [groups]—they're all living heritage. We see that as our interest and concern."

To speak to those concerns, the council's initiatives have included offering funding for individual heritage projects; creating a heritage network (edmontonheritagenetwork.ca); creating Edmonton Maps Heritage, which uses Google Maps to highlight heritage zones and specific locales, broken down by era, culture and theme; and the creation of the city's Historian Laureate position (another one of the Art of Living's recommendations), currently held by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail.

The council has tried to pull the dialogue around heritage and preservation out of the niches, Ridley notes, and draw citizens into a greater conversation about the place in which they live.

"We're trying to reframe the conversation, which is looking to the community and saying, 'here's an invitation to be involved. Here's resources, or ideas,'" he says. "Come forward, and let's work together to spark some conversation in Edmonton. And that's great if it connects to one of those memory organizations—a museum, an archives, a historical society—because that can be really helpful. But [that] really needs to be sparked by citizen interest."

The resources provided by the council have been a boon to the heritage community and helped create that interest. But, to Tim Marriott, there's more work to be done. Marriott's been involved with heritage efforts for decades: he was a longtime presence at Fort Edmonton Park, has been a member of the Edmonton Historical Society for decades, and was a member of both the Edmonton Historical Board—advising city council on heritage issues—and the Heritage Council's board. He notes that while the Art of Living plan has helped ensure heritage is part of the greater discussion about the city, and given resources to those who make it their business, it's still a complicated conversation to be having. Some questions also lack easy answers; accordingly, the plan needs to grow in new directions.

He'd like to see heritage get its own separate plan, expanding the Art of Living's 11 points into a richer, larger look at the city.

"Now I was looking again at the recommendations," he says. "I'm not sure how many more we could make, but my conservative estimate is a dozen— at least double the number of heritage recommendations."

It's not even that Marriott sees any

particular glaring omissions in the plan: simply, some heritage issues refuse to resolve easily. Edmonton still has a reputation for tearing down much of its older architecture, for one, and this year proved no exception.

"Every boom that comes along, another heritage icon that we say is never going to be demolished, is demolished," he says.

Marriott still sees that issue as partly rooted in how the city goes about updating itself. He agrees this needs to be done, but carefully.

"It's kind of the ironic consequence is the urban agenda, making Edmonton a more urban place—which I support— is also the big threat to heritage preservation," he says.

Marriott also notes that it's been a bad year for the destruction of historical buildings, which has seen the heritage community in a reaction mode, rather than making progress. Even historical neighbourhoods thought wellprotected can still find their historical values under threat.

"Even what we thought was settled—in Old Strathcona as a heritage community—[what] we're seeing there are piece-by-piece adjustments to the area redevelopment plan which compromise the historic value."

He's quick to clarify that the Art of Living plan's done a great amount of good. "I don't mean for this to sound like a litany of woe," he says. "On the contrary, there's a lot of hope."

The Heritage Council's project grants alone are "transforming the heritage community—we've never had that kind of resource before," he says.

"We're just slowly realizing the impact this program will have."

Marriott also doesn't pretend to have all the answers, but he sees that lack of clarity—on how to preserve the past while addressing the future—as evidence of a need for an expanded plan.

"There are members of council, members of the city administration, who are extraordinary advocates in heritage," he says. "Our mayor is one of them.

But the difficult choices now have to be made: we need a more dense, more urban environment ... we need to also provide the resources for heritage preservation. The city and the heritage community need to work together to

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

VUEPOINT

come up with the heritage option that make it as attractive to developers to preserve the heritage nature of a property as well as to develop a new property.

"These things take time," Marriott adds. "And in Edmonton, we're really making up for lost time."

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ALEX MIGDAL ALEX@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Hipster Santas

Rejoice, all ye faithful, for hipster Santa Claus has come: adieu to the dad-bod drowning in velvet and hello to well-oiled beards and gifts stuffed in leather satchels.

If you somehow missed the Internet breaking last week, a couple of hipster Santas in Canada and the US made their VSCOfiltered debuts.

At a shopping mall in Portland (where else?), "Hipster Santa" has been busy posing for photos with the wee ones, decked out in Converse high-tops, a chunky cardigan and—the chef d'oeuvre— a man bun. His hobbies include collecting vintage AM radios and zipping through town on his bike.

Where the hell was this Santa when I was younger?

Meanwhile, up north, Torontonians have coined the term "SILF" to describe Yorkdale Shopping Centre's "Fashion Santa." Played by male model Paul Mason, ads show Fashion Santa hauling a freshly cut tree with a Burberry trench coat draped over his shoulders. Goals, right?

But it's not just sartorial indul-

gence. For every selfie tagged with #YorkdaleFashionSanta on social media, Yorkdale is donating $1 (up to $10 000) to the SickKids Foundation. Even Canada's top contender for the naughty list, Justin Bieber, made a cameo at Yorkdale last weekend for a selfie with Mason.

Critics, meanwhile, have been decrying the sexualization of Christmas. How could we possibly fetishize Saint Nicholas, the holiest of childhood idols?

Likely because we've just grown tired of revering a pudgy old white dude for centuries. These Santas are a serious upgrade and reflect a growing sensibility to male appearance that's yet to be widely accepted.

As Justin Trudeau has taught us, it's refreshing—and jarring—to see people in positions of power redefine our notions of authority and beauty. Politicians can be smart and good-looking; jolly old Saint Nick should embrace his silver-fox status.

Soon, let's hope we see Jesus with a six-pack.V UP FRONT 5

DISH

DISH EDITOR: MEL PRIESTLEY MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // DINING

YEAR IN REVIEW: BEST O' RESTOS Vue’s restaurant critic selects his top picks from a year of eating in Edmonton’s restaurants

T

his year marked a hell of a long time since I started visiting restaurants and writing about what I find there. The downside of such errant foodie-ism is that you don't make it back to the places you loved in a timely fashion. The upside is that Edmonton keeps growing and diversifying as a place to eat, with so many nooks and crannies and strip malls harbouring gems waiting to be unhidden, and a growing contingent of mobile fare that has improved lunch hours and large civic events immeasurably.

The site of my greatest gustatory excesses this year was the Black Pearl Seafood Bar, a new venture on 104 Street launched in the spring by the Crudo family (of Café Amore fame). I'm not completely sold on the wood-lined, nautical-themed interior and actively dislike the satellite pastiche of faux sea shanties and prairie rock they pipe into the place, but the seafood is fresh and imaginatively prepared—my most vivid food memories of the year include slurping up their lobster and linguine in Korean-spiced tomato sauce. Tuesday night is buck-a-shuck oysters, served with a bevy of house condiments and a heap of fresh-grated horseradish. I

Indian Fusion The Curry House // Meaghan Baxter

brownie I had for dessert was the best $3 I spent all year. True, Huma subjected me to DVDs of Supertramp and Journey in concert for no discernible reason, but it won't put me off eating there again.

Huma joins the rank of strip-mall oases I've straggled into this year, alongside the cheerfully low-key charms of Million Thai in Beverly— which nails the standard pad thais and curries, but also makes a fantastic glass noodle seafood salad—and Al Salam Bakery and Restaurant in Heritage, where bakery, grocery and deli converge to serve up very solid Lebanese fare accompanied by piping hot pita and flatbread. My favourite, and most frequented, strip-mall treasure remains the wonderful Castle Bake—way the hell and gone in Castle Downs—home of unique and wonderful Lebanese breakfast, as anyone who has talked me for even a few minutes in the past few years must know by now.

I suppose the ungrammatically named Indian Fusion The Curry House also counts as a strip-mall denizen, tucked inconspicuously on a patch of asphalt across from MacEwan University. The restaurant's Fijian

Edmonton keeps growing and diversifying as a place to eat, with so many nooks and crannies and strip malls harbouring gems waiting to be unhidden.

Human Mexican Comfort // Meaghan Baxter

Rostizado // Tamanna Khurana

6 DISH

haven't found anything on the menu I haven't liked over three visits, which is the minimum number you'll need to delve into the fancy-shmancy artisanal cocktail menu.

Rostizado, just up the street, also offers complex booze offerings and plenty of reasons to overindulge.

Headed by the chaps behind Tres Carnales and modelled on Mexican rotisserie, Rostizado mainly lays out cutting boards laden with succulent roasted meat and veggies, served with authentic sauces. The playfully designed space, teeming on weekends, is a nice fit for the Mercer building.

Also in a Mexican vein, the longawaited Huma Mexican Comfort, helmed by chef Mariel Montero Sena, opened on the corner of Argyll and 99 Street. I don't really get the mixed reviews the place has gotten since it opened in late summer. Huma's array of tacos are as good as any in town, and once again condiments count for a lot—housemade sauces in three different hues and intensities are half the meal, to me. I also enjoyed the pozole ("hangover soup") and aguachile (lime-marinated shrimp); I love the sound of the food I haven't tried yet; and the warm mole chocolate

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

iteration of Indian food complements old standbys with novel variants (duck masala, curries made with basa, elk or lobster), all of which come out rich, aromatic and perfect for passing around a big table.

The most novel restaurant experiences of my year must have included the stylishly austere Nongbu Korean Eatery in Old Strathcona, where super-friendly staff gently guided me through my first taste of DdukBboKki (stir-fried plugs of rice stick in spicy sauce), Bo Ssam (porkstuffed lettuce wraps) and seafood pajeon (pancake), all of which I would happily eat again. Also on that list is 97 Hot Pot in Chinatown, where a boiling pot of stock (your choice) set into the table in front of you furnishes the cooking medium for a parade of seafood, meat and veggies that you order from a checklist menu, rolled out by a small army of serious-looking soup stewards who, all the same, will cotton to your clueless expression and show you what to do. The cooking was almost as fun as the eating, but I felt like the first time was a rehearsal for a more successful visit sometime in 2016.

SCOTT LINGLEY

SCOTT@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VENI, VIDI, VINO

MEL PRIESTLEY // MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

A look at Edmonton's year in wine Let's hope 2016 will bring some real improvements to local wine lists Last December I presented a rather bleak outlook on Edmonton's overall wine trends, namely that the vast majority of wine lists around town were boring and overpriced. This is a trend that was, unfortunately, quite sustained throughout 2015; I don't expect any major changes in 2016, either. Now, obviously there are some big exceptions to this: a handful of places around town, including a few wine bars and wine-focused restaurants (almost invariably of the local and independent variety), which have very good lists that feature quality, fairly priced wines. But our city is still very much lacking in a concerted effort to improve the average quality of wine lists overall, and I don't see that changing much in the near future.

Oil prices, the minimum wage hike, mass layoffs and the general crappiness of the economy in general will comprise the bulk of the recent excuse for this trend, but the fact remains that if a restaurant really wants to improve its wine list, that's not a difficult task to accomplish.

Which brings me to my next point: the quality and selection of wine in Edmonton's few specialty wine shops is quite good and frequently excellent. It's actually quite a strange dichotomy, this major discrepancy between the quality of wine in the service industry versus the retail world. The handful of dedicated wine shops in Edmonton

are staffed by people who are wellversed in wine, drink buckets of the stuff and are more than willing to help a restaurant build a better wine list—or recommend someone who can, if they aren't able to. Plus, Alberta's privatized liquor industry means we have access to the best selection of wines anywhere in the whole country. All restaurateurs need to do is ask someone to help them build a list, and yet we're still stuck with the same generic Pinot Grigios and indiscriminate Malbecs.

Our cocktail culture has grown well, which is great, but it seems to be partially at the expense of wine

On the brighter side of things, the Canadian wine industry continues to grow in leaps and bounds, everincreasing the vineyard acreage in the main areas (Okanagan and Niagara) and pushing ever further into the liminal regions on the very edge of where grapevines can survive.

These are the regions that particularly inspire me as the stories are as unique as the wines themselves, though I'm equally thrilled with the quality coming out of the main wine centres. Closer to home, Alberta has welcomed another local fruit winery (Shady Lane); our local fruit and honey wines have been making slow strides into the mainstream market, but hopefully these winemakers will continue to refine their craft and gain new customers.

I've written about local wine-oriented events a few times this year, notably the contentious views of Edmonton's local wine industry presented in a Vue cover story, back in March, about the Northern Lands festival. The festival was undoubtedly successful in many regards—by far the highest-quality wine festival to have ever come through town. I found the sit-down tasting seminars more valuable than the evening walkabout tasting, though the latter was certainly a great time. That said, not everyone in the industry agreed with the views expressed by one of the festival organizers, and Northern Lands may have also topped

Our cocktail culture has grown well, which is great, but it seems to be partially at the expense of wine lists. Call me greedy, but can't we have both? lists. Call me greedy, but can't we have both? I don't believe that a great cocktail program must be mutually exclusive from a great wine list, and vice-versa.

As customers, we can and should demand better—if you don't like the wine list at a place, tell them.

Make a point to speak to the manager, or send an email to them afterwards if you're not into direct confrontation. Just do it politely, please—there are enough flame wars and trolling on the Internet these days; posting a nasty Yelp review is not an effective way to stimulate actual improvements.

I want

COME IN FOR A MEAL, LEAVE FULL OF MAGICAL MEMORIES

out many people's budget/attention for such big wine events this year, slowing the growth of other similar food- and wine-based events. It will be interesting to see if the festival returns to Edmonton; in the meantime we'll have to content ourselves with the usual run-of-the-mill winetasting events dominated by large corporate brands.

What will 2016 bring? Hopefully not more of the same! V Mel Priestley is a certified sommelier and wine writer who also blogs about wine, food and the arts at melpriestley.ca

V

Meet Prakash. His food is good for your body, his story is good for your heart.

Get to know him at Indian Fusion!

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VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

DISH 7

PREVUE // DANCE

ARTS

ARTS EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

A waking Dream

Acclaimed dancer Jeff Mortensen returns to his folkloric roots with Clara's Dream

'I

am so sore," Jeff Mortensen begins, a self-effacing laugh punctuating the words, before quickly relenting on his proclaimed anguish: "It's been good."

The wunderkid dancer—currently based in Los Angeles, but originally from Edmonton—is going through the somewhat painful practice of re-immersing himself in Ukrainian dance's technical nuance. For Clara's Dream, Shumka's spin on The Nutcracker story, is full of technical brio and skillful precision. (This year, the esteemed folkloric dance company is filling out its cast with members of Citie Ballet's dance corps, as well as Viter Ukrainian Folk Choir, and Ukraine's own Virsky and Kyiv ballet companies.)

It's far from Mortensen's first time in a taxing folk-dance—he's been doing this show for over a decade—

but coming back each season marks a vivid, physical reminder of the style's requirements.

"Ukrainian dance is about strong moves, sharp movement, in unison," he notes. "So it visually pulls you in, just because of the symmetry of it.

And then the moves themselves are so precise and strong, they're full of a lot of dynamic energy."

A child with a penchant for gymnastics, it was Mortensen's aunt who pushed him towards traditional Ukranian dance—a part of his heritage on his mother's side. At five years old, he started making treks to the Yellowbird Community Centre ("That was when there was literally no houses," he recalls. "It was just fields and a community centre in the middle of a field"). Then it was on to St Basil's, and, after performing at a Cheremosh dance festival, the nimble leap into

Shumka's internal school.

From there, Mortensen's career vaulted onwards: the first year he was in the company proper, he toured the United States with Andrea Bocelli on his Home for the Holidays show. He hadn't even left high school.

"I'd never really gone on a professional tour before," he says. "My nickname was 'Curious George.' I'd never seen palm trees, so [laugh].

It was exciting. I was just curious about a lot of things: different cultures, different cities, how the cities operate. Not only that, but how the theatre world operates."

Mortensen then spent a year in one of Cirque Du Soleil's Vegas-based shows in a more actorly role, one that made use of his skill set, but not as rigorously. (In terms of physical re-

quirements anyway, but it was two shows a day, five days a week). When he returned to Canada, a freshly minted television program called So You Think You Can Dance caught his eye.

"It was the first time I'd been exposed to urban styles of movement," he recalls. "So many different styles of dance. That was something I was interested in. So You Think You Could Dance was clearly a platform to get that training—even though it was in front of a million people [laugh]. But, y'know, I don't like to do anything without pressure."

It paid off: Mortensen placed third in the show's Canadian iteration, and now finds himself working both on and off stage: notably, he's assistant choreographer on an upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show remake (!). While his career's let him explore myriad styles of dance, coming back to

Tue, Dec 29 (7:30 pm); Wed, Jan 30 (2 pm & 7:30 pm) Jubilee Auditorium, $25 – $80 Clara's Dream every year invigorates that formative, heritage-based part of his training again—and also reminds him of its difficulty, each time.

"I don't Ukrainian dance very often anymore, so it's definitely challenge," he notes. "It is a very specialized skill set that is required of [those] dancers. Because you have to look the same as everyone else; you have to be strong; you have to be pulled up; and it's quick. I have to kind-of re-jig myself back into the Ukrainian folklore."

And how does he go about doing that?

"Lots of pierogi," he laughs. "Pierogies and sour cream. That's pretty much it."

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // BOOKS

Our own words

Edmonton's local literature runs vast and varied, anchored by a few themes

W

hen I first started exploring Edmonton's local literature, I was excited by the idea that I could get a full grasp on the fictional representation of this place. Sure, I thought, a few people have written books set in Edmonton. But there can't be that many of them. It's not as if I live in New York or London or Paris or any other well-storied place, where it would take several lifetimes to get through a comprehensive read.

To my dismay and delight, as I started to scratch at the surface of Edmonton literature, I discovered that my home is really no different from all those legendary places. There are hundreds of books written about this city. Thousands of poems, short stories and creative non-fiction essays. Millions of oral stories, urban myths, tall tales and local folklore. There have always

8 ARTS

been storytellers here, reflecting on this city and its people.

When you dive into Edmonton's literary canon, you start to recognize a few key themes that continuously recirculate: a self-deprecating sense of humour mixed with a fierce, defensive pride in our ugly city. A conflicting blend of optimism and pessimism, depending on the daily price of Western Canadian Select.

An unearned obsession with ourselves as a cold, remote, rugged northern outpost.

City council has seized on this last theme, developing the Winter City Strategy to capitalize on our frosty reputation. We need only look from recent books, like the 40 Below anthologies, all the way back to older texts like Ella May Walker's 1947 novel Fortress North, to see that this celebration of our climate is an essential part of Edmonton's story. More than a couple Edmonton characters have

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

frozen to death or been left out to die and survived the cold, including a resourceful mechanic from Sean Stewart's The Night Watch and the journalist hero of Wayne Arthurson's Fall From Grace. There's a certain self-congratulatory hardiness for enduring such a cold and desolate place—a feeling that our writers are appropriating the snide criticisms from other Canadian cities and reclaiming our cool climate as a point of pride.

Apart from our fondness for calling ourselves northern, one other theme emerges as a dominant image in Edmonton literature: our river.

The North Saskatchewan River bisects our city, and it flows across the pages of our books just as swiftly. The valley trails, the CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >>

High Level Bridge, the riverboat, the silt-stained waters themselves—they appear in almost every story, in one form or another.

"You have to live in Edmonton to know about our riverbank walks," writes Linda Goyette in her introduction to Edmonton In Our Own Words, the city's 2004 centennial history.

"When we need to talk to one another about something important— or listen—we find a trail beside the North Saskatchewan River and start walking. This city is a conversation with a river running through it."

Often that's an actual conversation, like the humourous exchange between a random woman named Helen and Professor Raymond Terletsky in Todd Babiak's The Garneau Block. The disgraced philosopher contemplates throwing himself into the cold, deep, sturgeon-infested waters until Helen drags him back from the edge. Sometimes the conversation is an internal monologue, like when Hamza Senesert walks across the High Level Bridge's train tracks in Minister Faust's Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad. The disillusioned dishwasher thinks about the Great Divide waterfall, a symbol of a city that once dreamed big wild dreams but has since become unimpressed with magic tricks.

"The river is the city's hinge, its eastwest line," writes Alice Major in the poem "Envision the Outline." The North Saskatchewan is indeed the connection point upon which Edmonton's literature rotates. Some of our stories even begin with their characters on the river. Gail Helgason's Swimming into Darkness starts with archaeologist Thora Sigurdson staring at the waters: "heavy, silt-ridden, intricately braided with unseen currents." In 2007, the Edmonton Journal's crowd-sourced novel (Emmy Budge PI: The Ixion File, which was cowritten by Thomas Wharton and by readers contributing a chapter each week) begins with a murder on the Edmonton Queen Riverboat.

Some of our stories even combine

these two great motifs—the perpetual winter, the swift-flowing river— and ponder the iced-locked North Saskatchewan and its inevitable freedom in the spring. Theodore Stappler and Mark Lerner look out on the frozen river in Henry Kreisel's The Betrayal, wondering how amazing it would be to see all the ice break up and flow away. In her contribution to Edmonton on Location: River City Chronicles, Myrna Kostash answers their question: "I stand at the condo window and rejoice, at Spring breakup, about the liberated surge of water that has gushed out of the mountains and into this embrace of the loamy, bushy banks at Edmonton."

Why are we all so fascinated by the river? Sure, it's hard to avoid mentioning. It's right there, at the heart of our city, in the foreground of every cityscape. But it's also a vagueenough symbol that it can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.

For Kostash, it's a symbol of another frequent motif in Edmonton literature: the desire to leave this city and never return.

"We stop on its bridges and banks, staring down into the streaming current of murky water racing east, mesmerized by that quality a river has if we stand looking at it in one spot: a thing that is passing us, going somewhere else, leaving us and not coming back. Wherever it's going, we're not going with it. We may be lost in contemplation, but it does not stop its run to the sea. That's what rivers do."

Whether you're itching to flow on out of the city or you've committed to growing your deep roots here, you probably have your own stories about the North Saskatchewan's sinuous curves and frosty lily pads.

Our river might end in Lake Winnipeg—it might even dry up one day, when the glaciers disappear and the rains stop falling—but it will always keep running through the thousands of fictional Edmontons that our storytellers have created.

Our goal is to exceed your expectations!

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ARTS 9

ARTS WEEKLY

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

Dance Clara’s Dream…A Ukrainian folk ballet based on The Nutcracker • Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 11455-87 Ave • 780.455.9559; shumka. com • Featuring the dance group Ukrainian Shumka Dancers with guests from Citie Ballet, Virsky & Kyiv Ballet. Not only is Clara’s Dream a luxurious Christmas production loved by all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities, it is a true “Edmonton Nutcracker,” produced and performed by local artists • Dec 29-30, 7pm (2pm matinee on Dec 30)

Come Join the Dance-Sacred Circle Dance • Riverdale Hall, 92 St & 100 Ave • sackerman1@me.com • sacredcircledance. com • Nurture the body, mind, and soul with a variety of songs, music and movements.

All dances are taught. Open nights are for everyone. No partner required • Dec 9 (every 2nd Wed), 7-9pm • $10

dance crush • Mile Zero Dance Company, Spazio Performativo, 10816-95 St • 780.424.1573 • • milezerodance.com • Kathy Ochoa; "Dig" • This season MZD produces four performances with some favourite movement-based artists from across Canada.

• Jan 22-23, 8pm • $15 (MZD members), $20 (non-members)

Fortier Danse-Création • Timms Centre for the Arts, University of Alberta, 87 Ave & 112 St NW • Exploring intimate relationships as an equation with several unknowns. Are they Lovers? Clowns? Companions? • Jan 14-15

Misfit Blues • Timms Centre for the Arts, 87 Ave-112 St • 780.420.1757 • bwdc.ca • Featuring dance group Fortier Danse-Creation.

Fortier’s latest dance features himself and Robin Poitras (Regina), with a set by celebrated Aboriginal and Eduoard Poitras • Jan 15-16, 8pm • $35 (general admission), $20 (student/ senior)

Shaping sounds • Alberta Ballet • 780.428.6839 • albertaballet.com • Created

by Emmy Award-nominated choreographers Travis Wall, Nick Lazarrini, Teddy Forance and Kyle Robinson, Shaping Sound is an electrifying mash-up of dance styles and musical genres brought fully to life on stage by a dynamic company of contemporary dancers • Jan 1213, 7:30pm

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

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

Occasional live music–check the Sugar Swing website for info • $10, $2 lesson with entry

FILM Cinema at the Centre • Stanley Milner Library Theatre, bsmt, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.496.7070 • Film screening every Wed, 6:30pm • Free • Schedule: The Poseidon Adventure (Dec 30) From Books to Film • Stanley A. Milner, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.496.7000 • epl.ca • Films adapted from books every Fri afternoon at 2pm • Schedule: Babes in Toyland (Dec 24 - airing at noon)

Metro • Metro at the Garneau Theatre, 8712109 St • 780.425.9212 • Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (Jan 1-4, Jan 7) • 99 Homes (Jan 8-13) • Experimenter (Jan 9-12, Jan 18) • Chasing Shadows - Warren Miller Ski Film (Jan 14) • Victoria (Jan 15-17, Jan 20) • American Sharia (Jan 17) • The Stanford Prison Experiment (Jan 18) • The Culture Collective (Jan 21) • Canada's Top Ten Film Festival 2015 (Jan 22-31) • Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World (Jan 22-23, Jan 25) • The Mask (Eyes of Hell) 3D (Jan 23-24, Jan 26) • Beach!: Muscle Beach Party (Jan 19), The Girls on the Beach (Jan 19); Blue Hawaii (Jan 31); Gidget Goes Hawaiian (Feb 16) • Falling Into Place: 4 Films by Satoshi kon: Perfect Blue (Jan 9-10, Jan 13); Millennium Actress (Jan 16-17, Jan 20); Tokyo Godfathers (Feb 6-7, Feb 10); Paprika (Feb 13-14, Feb 17)

10 arts

Memento (Jan 27) • They The War of the Worlds (Dec 26, 27, 30) • Music Doc: Wilco: Every Other Summer (Jan 5); Harry Belafonte: Sing Your Song (Feb 2) • New Year: The Martian (Jan 1-7), Mad Max: Fury Road (Jan 1) • Reel Family Cinema: The Wizard of Oz (Dec 26); Space Balls (Jan 2); The Iron Giant: Signature Edition (Jan 9); Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Jan 16); The Land Before Time (Jan 23); The NeverEnding Story (Jan 30) • Science in the Cinema: The Crash Reel (Jan 28) • Staff Pics: Alien (Jan 25) • Turkey Shoot: Pixels (Jan 14) • Gateway to Cinema:

Came from Projector X:

VINCENT VAN GOGH: A NEW WAY OF SEEING • Arden Theatre, 5 St Anne St, St Albert • 780.459.1542 • ardentheatre.com • Made in collaboration with the curators and art historians, the film marks both a major reshowing of the gallery's collection and a celebration of the 125th anniversary of van Gogh's death • Jan 31, 2pm • $20 (adults), $15 (children)

Library Main Fl, Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.944.5383 • epl.ca/art-gallery • Gallery at Milner walls: shrug: Graphite on paper drawings by Glynis Wilson Boultbee; through Dec • Teak Cases: Illustrating the Journey of Rutherford the Time-Travelling Moose; through Dec • Plexi-Glass Cubes: Just Christmas: crafts by artists involved with Just Christmas; through Dec

Harcourt House Gallery • 3 Fl, 10215-112 St • 780.426.4180 • Main space: Natural Science: Jennifer Willet; Dec 3-Jan 21 • Riki Kuropatwa's Collide; Dec 3-Jan 22 Jurassic Forest/Learning Centre • 15 mins N of Edmonton off Hwy 28A, Township Rd 564 • Education-rich entertainment facility for all ages

Lando Gallery • 103, 10310-124 St • 780.990.1161 • landogallery.com • December Group Selling Exhibition; through Dec

galLeries + Museums ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL GALLERY • 10186-106 St • 780.488.6611 • albertacraft. ab.ca • Masterworks: signature pieces by some of Alberta’s brightest fine craft stars; Oct 10-Dec 24 • A Place for Everything: artwork by Terry Hildebrand; Jan 9-Feb 6

Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) • 2 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.422.6223 • youraga.ca • Tyler Los-Jones: A Panorama Protects its View: Jan 23-Jan 31, 2016 • Sincerely Yours: By Alberta artist Chris Cran; Sep 12-Jan 3 • Rough Country: The strangely familiar in mid-20th century Alberta art; Oct 3-Jan 31 • Living Building Thinking: Art and Expressionism; Oct 24-Feb 15 • She's All That: artwork by Dana Holst; Oct 24-Feb 15 • Fabric: Charrette Roulette; Nov 21-Apr 10 • Artist in Conversation: Western Medicine: Social justice, universal meaning and the role of art; Jan 20 • Curator’s Walkthrough: The Blur In Between; Jan 24 • Open Studio Adult Drop-In : Wed, 7-9pm; $18/$16 (AGA member) • All Day Sundays: Art activities for all ages; Activities, 12-4pm; Tour; 2pm • Late Night Wednesdays: Every Wed, 6-9pm • Art for Lunch: 3rd Thu of the month, 12:10-12:50pm

Art Gallery Of St Albert (AGSA)

and Marie Winters; Jan 8-Feb 21

Gallery at Milner • Stanley A. Milner

•

19 Perron St, St Albert • 780.460.4310 • artgalleryofstalbert.ca • Night Hours: artwork by The Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Dec 3-Jan 30 • Art Ventures: Dynamic Diorama (Jan 16), 1-4pm; drop-in art program for children ages 6-12; $6/$5.40 (Arts & Heritage member) • Ageless Art: Creative Collages (Jan 21), 1-3pm; for mature adults; $15/$13.50 (Arts & Heritage member) • Preschool Picasso: Day & Night (Jan 16); for 3-5 yrs; pre-register; $10/$9 (Arts & Heritage member)

Bleeding Heart Art Space • 9132-118 Ave • dave@bleedingheartartspace.com • Waiting Room: A multimedia installation by Alysha Chreighton; Nov 21-Jan 16

BUGERA MATHESON GALLERY • 10345124 St • bugeramathesongallery.com •Winter Show: featuring gallery artists; Dec 12-31 Cafe Blackbird • 9640-142 St • 780.451.8890 • cafeblackbird.ca • Artwork by Bernadette McCormack; Nov 30-Jan 3

Creative Practices Institute • 10149-122 St, 780.863.4040 •

Latitude 53 • 10242-106 St • 780.423.5353 • latitude53.org • Main Space: Clean, Fit, and Decease Free: artwork by Shan Kelley; Dec 4-Jan 16 • ProjEx Room: Win, Place, and Show: artwork by Lisa Turner; Dec 4-Jan 16 McMULLEN GALLERY • U of A Hospital, 8440-112 St • 780.407.7152 • friendsofuah. org/mcmullen-gallery • The Steamfitter's Guide: artwork by Robin Smith-Peck; Dec 12-Feb 7

Multicultural Centre Public Art Gallery (MCPAG)–Stony Plain • 541151 St, Stony Plain • multicentre.org • Artificial Bionomics: artwork by Stephanie Jonsson; Nov 26-Jan 8

Musée Héritage Museum • St Albert Place, 5 St Anne Street, St Albert • MuseeHeritage.ca • 780.459.1528 • museum@ artsandheritage.ca • Take Your Best Shot: Youth Photo Contest; Nov 20-Jan 24 • The True Cost of Oil: Canada’s Oil Sands and the Last Great Forest: A photographic exhibition by Garth Lenz; Feb 4-Apr 17; Opening reception: Feb 6, 2-5pm

Paint Spot • 10032-81 Ave • 780.432.0240 • paintspot.ca • Artisan nook: Bishoujo Gallery: artwork by Chris Jugo’s exhibition of ‘the pretty gals of anime and manga; Nov 19-Jan 4 • Naess Gallery: Mighty Chroma!: artwork by Patricia Coulter, Meghan MacMillan, Michael Conforti; Nov 19-Jan 4

Provincial Archives of Alberta • 8555 Roper Road • PAA@gov.ab.ca • 780.427.1750 • culture.alberta.ca/paa/ eventsandexhibits/default.aspx • Voices from Our Past: artwork by Katherine Braid; Sep 25-Jan 23

Scotia Place • Foyer, 10060 Jasper Ave • Mountain High: artwork by Donna Miller.

Presenting an exhibition of recent large colourful acrylic on canvas paintings of Rocky Mountain moments • Nov 17-Jan 6

sNAP Gallery • Society of Northern Alberta Print­- Artists, 10123-121 St • 780.423.1492 • snapartists.com • The Lebret Residential Petroglyphs: artwork by Tanya Harnett; Jan 7-Feb 20; Opening reception: Jan 8, 7-9pm; Artist talk: Jan 14, 6pm

SPRUCE GROVE ART GALLERY •

creativepracticesinstitute.com • Above the Clouds: artwork by Aryen Hoekstra; Jan 21-Feb 27; Opening reception: Jan 21, 7-9pm; Reading and discussion group: Jan 24

dc3 Art Projects • 10567-111 St • 780.686.4211 • dc3artprojects.com • Gallery will be open by appointment; Jan 1-30 • Infocus: Curated by Alexis Marie Chute; Feb 5-27 Douglas Udell Gallery (DUG) • 10332-124 St • douglasudellgallery.com • Art Collectors’ Starter Kit Show; Dec 12-26 Drawing Room • 1025397 St • 780.760.7284 • admin@ drawingroomedmonton.com • facebook. com/groups/unwindwednesday • Unwind Wednesdays: A weekly yarn circle. Intended for both beginners and those proficient in craft. Affordable supplies will be available by donation to The Drawing Room, but please feel free to bring your own • Every Wed, 3-7pm until Dec 23 • Free (supplies available for purchase)

35-5 Ave, Spruce Grove • 780.962.0664 • alliedartscouncil.com • Fireplace Room: Chico Bulmer; through Dec

Telus World of Science • 11211-142 St • telusworldofscienceedmonton.com • Free$117.95 • Beyond Rubik's Cube; Nov 7-Feb 15 • The Science Garage: new gallery opening in Dec • The International Exhibition Of Sherlock Holmes; Mar 25, 2016-Sep 5, 2016 U of A Museums • Human Ecology Bldg Gallery, Main Fl, 116 St, 89 Ave • museums@ ualberta.ca • museums.ualberta.ca • Thu-Fri: 12-6pm; Sat: 12-4pm • Brain Storms: UAlberta Creates: hundreds of creative and visually inspiring works from University of Alberta Alumni in support of the University of Alberta Alumni Association centenary; Sep 25-Jan 23 VAA Gallery • 3rd Fl, 10215-112 St • visualartsalberta.com • Gallery A: Cultural Exchange; Dec 3-Feb 27 • Gallery B: Alberta Artists Collect Alberta Art; Dec 3-Feb 27 VASA Gallery • 25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave, St Albert • 780.460.5990 • vasa-art.com • Members Winter Exhibition; Dec 1-Jan 29

Enterprise square galleries • 10230 Jasper Ave • Open: Thu-Fri, 12-6pm, Sat 12-4pm • Do It Yourself: Collectivity and Collaboration in Edmonton; Nov 28-Mar 5

Gallery@501 • 501 Festival Ave, Sherwood Park • 780.410.8585 • strathcona.ca/artgallery • Portraits: artwork by Corie Side, Claire Uhlick

West End Gallery • 10337-124 St • 780.488.4892 • westendgalleryltd.com • Annual Winter Collection Group Exhibition: featuring works by Peter Shostak, Annabelle Marquis, Claudette Castonguay, Peter Wyse and more; Nov 21-Dec 24 • Adorned with

Art: Painters include Claudette Castongauy, Rod Charlesworth, Irene Klar, Richard Cole, Brent Laycock, Raynald Leclerc and more; Nov 28-Dec 31

Runs every Mon, 7:30-9:30pm • Until May 30, 2016 (no show Dec 21 or 28) • $14 or $9 with a $30 membership; at the door (cash) or at tixonthesquare.com

Literary

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage • Jubilee Auditorium, 11455-

Edmonton Story Slam • Mercury Room,10575-114 St • edmontonstoryslam. com • facebook.com/mercuryroomyeg • Great stories, interesting company, fabulous atmosphere • 3rd Wed each month • 7pm (sign-up); 7:30pm • $5 Donation to winner Naked Cyber Café • 10303-1008 St • The Spoken Word: Featuring writers and an open mic for performances for short stories, book excerpts, poems • 1st Wed ea month, 7:30pm

Naked Girls Reading • Brittany's Lounge, 10225-97 St NW • 780.691.1691 • There will be different themes each month • Every 2nd Tue of month, 8:30-10:30pm • $20 (door); 18+ only

87 Ave NW • It’s the summer of 1963, and 17-year-old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman is on vacation in New York’s Catskill Mountains with her older sister and parents. Mesmerized by the racy dance moves and pounding rhythms she discovers in the resort’s staff quarters, Baby can’t wait to be part of the scene, especially when she catches sight of Johnny Castle, the resort’s sexy dance instructor. Passions ignite and Baby’s life changes forever when she is thrown in to the deep end as Johnny’s leading lady, both on-stage and off • Jan 5-10

Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins • Festival Place, 100

Rouge Lounge • 10111-117 St • 780.902.5900 • Spoken Word Tuesdays: Weekly spoken word night presented by the Breath In Poetry Collective (BIP); info: E: breathinpoetry@ gmail.com

Festival Way • 780.449.3378 • festivalplace. ab.ca • Jane and Michael Banks have driven away just about every nanny that comes to the door, until Mary Poppins flies in! Along with the lovable chimney sweep Burt, she helps the Banks family find love and value in one another • Dec 17-30, 7:30pm (with 2pm matinees on Sat & Sun) • $25 (kids), $39 (adult)

Scrambled YEG • Brittany's Lounge,

flora & fawna's field trip • Northern

10225-97 St • 780.497.0011 • Open Genre Variety Stage: artists from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every Tue-Fri, 5-8pm

SCRIPT SALON • Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Upper Arts Space, 10037-84 Ave • A monthly play reading series: 1st Sun each month with a different play by a different playwright

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

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

Theatre 11 O'Clock Number • The Backstage Theatre, 10330-84 Ave (North Side of the ATB Financial Arts Barns) • 90 minutes of improvised entertainment that unveils scenes, songs and choreographed numbers completely off the cuff based on audience suggestions • Every Fri, starting Sep 25-Jun 25, 11pm (No performances on Dec 25 and Jan 1, 8 & 15) • $15 (online, at the door) • grindstonetheatre.ca

Back To The 80S: A Most Excellent Musical Adventure • Mayfield Dinner Theatre, 16615-109 Ave NW • mayfieldtheatre. ca • Amongst all the bad movies, hairdos, fads and faux pas of this much maligned decade some of the greatest pop tunes of all time were realized • Nov 10-Jan 31

Bravo • Backstage Theatre 10330-84 Ave • By Blaine Newton (a world premiere). A Japanese fisherman caught in the fall out of an American nuclear detonation. A dispassionate anthropologist teaching the effects of radiation on human populations. A cynical politician out to protect his country no matter what the cost.

Weaving back and forth between the notorious 1954 Pacific nuclear tests and the present day, Bravo is a captivating drama that compassionately explores decisions that changed the world and their all too human consequences • Jan 20-Feb 7 canoe 2016 • Backstage Theatre, ATB Financial Art Barns, 10330-84 Ave • 780.477.5955 • workshopwest.org • Presented

by Workshop West. This annual Mardi Gras of theatre once again will feature the best boundary-bending theatre performances from around the corner to around the globe • Jan 27-Feb 7

Light Theatre, 201, 8908-99 St • 780.471.1586 • northernlighttheatre.com • In the Fringe smash-hit play, best friends Flora and Fawna (along with their pal, Fleurette) are creating a safe place for girls just like them by launching the NaturElles, a social group with a difference.

• Jan 15-23

Improv Open Jam • Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 10037-84 Ave • grindstonetheatreyeg@gmail.com • grindstonetheatre.ca/ openjam.html • A space to share, swap games and ideas. For all levels • Last Tue every month until Jun 28, 7-9:30pm • Free

Jack and the Beanstalk • Fort Edmonton Park • A musical comedy production.

Featuring a modern take on a famous fairy tale • Dec 16-Dec 31 MAESTRO • Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Ave • Rapid Fire Theatre • Improv, a high-stakes game of elimination that will see 11 improvisers compete for audience approval until there is only one left standing • 1st Sat each month, 7:30-9:30pm • $12 (adv at rapidfiretheatre. com)/$15 (door) The Social Scene • Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Ave • grindstonetheatreyeg@gmail. com • grindstonetheatre.ca/scenestudy.html • Fellow theatre lovers share excerpts of plays that they have been reading • First Mon of every month, 6-8pm; until Jun 6 • Free

Star Warz: A Galactic Rock Comedy • Jubilations Dinner Theatre, West Edmonton Mall, Phase II West Edmonton Mall, 8882-170 St • jubilations.ca • It is a period of galactic civil war! There are rebels with spaceships, Jedi with lightsabers, a princess, a smuggler, and robots, the Evil Darth Vador and singing… yes you heard me… singing of your favorite galactic rock tunes of the 70’s and 80’s. May the force be with you • Oct 30-Jan 30

TeatroQ New Years • Backstage Theatre • 10330-84 Ave NW • 780.433.3399 • teatroq. com/new-years • A unique event, filled with elegant amusements, celebratory music, and a special premiere offering from Stewart Lemoine- a small play with a very large cast • Dec 31 • $28, $25 (student/senior), $22 (subscribers) TheatreSports • Citadel's Zeidler Hall, 9828-101A Ave • rapidfiretheatre.com • Improv • Every Fri, 7:30pm and 10pm • Sep-Jun • $12/$10 (member) at TIX on the Square

chelsea hotel • Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Ave • 780.425.1820 • citadeltheatre.com • With extraordinary new arrangements, six performers play 17 instruments in a knockout tribute to Leonard Cohen's most transcendent songs • Jan 13-24

Ursa major • Backstage Theatre, ATB Financial Art Barns, 10330 84 Ave • 780.477.5955 • workshopwest.org • Presented

by Workshop West. After a horrific car accident, a retired couple must decide how to best deal with the injuries they've sustained. Based on a true story of the Dart sister's grandparents, Ursa Major is a powerful and moving story of love and devotion, and the strange world that exists between consciousness and unconsciousness • Jan 27-Feb 7

Chimprov • Citadel's Zeidler Hall, 9828-

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

101A Ave • rapidfiretheatre.com • Rapid Fire Theatre’s longform comedy show: improv formats, intricate narratives, and one-act plays • Every Sat, 10pm • $12 (door or buy in adv at TIX on the Square) • Until Jun

Die-Nasty • The Backstage Theatre at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-83 Ave • communications@varsconatheatre.com • die-nasty.com • Live improvised soap opera •

VUEWEEKLY.com | dec 24 – dec 30, 2015

• Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Ave • 780.425.1820 • citadeltheatre.com • An American theatre classic, Edward Albee's scorching tale of an embittered marriage was the Citadel's very first production in 1965.

This new 50th-anniversary production will star prominent Canadian actors Brenda Robins and Tom Rooney • Jan 23-Feb 16

FILM REVUE // SCI-FI

FILM EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

A familiar feeling

The Force Awakens plays it safe, re-establishes trust in the Star Wars franchise Now playing Directed by J J Abrams 

everything he thought he needed to include. Planet-destroying superweapon? Check. Supreme evil overlord cloaked in shadow? Check.

Father-son drama? Double check.

On desert planet Jakku, we meet scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley) and stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), who team up to return the secret Death Star plans—er, the map to find Luke Skywalker—to General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) at the Resistance base. Ridley is fiery and independent in her role, if a bit too perfect at everything. She flies the Millennium Falcon and learns the powers of the Force with ease, a sort of Luke Skywalker-Han Solo hybrid who doesn't seem to have any flaws beyond her delusion that whoever abandoned her will return.

'T

his will begin to make things right."

A tragically underused Max von Sydow speaks these words, the first of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He hands Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) the key to the map to find Luke Skywalker, who has gone missing and is being hunted by the First Order

(AKA Empire) and the Resistance (AKA Rebel Alliance) alike.

It's as good a slogan as any for the new trilogy. As the familiar John Williams music blares and the familiar yellow paragraphs scroll and the familiar first shot tilts down to reveal a desert planet, you get the feeling that J J Abrams and company are of-

fering up The Force Awakens as a form of amends to fans who were so let down by the prequel trilogy.

"This instalment will be the Star Wars you know and love, cantina bands and screen wipes and all," the movie screams.

It's as if Abrams watched the original trilogy and made a list of

Boyega's Finn is a far more compelling character. In his first fire fight, the stormtrooper realizes he's not cut out for murdering an entire innocent village and spends the rest of the film learning how to fight against the evil that raised him. We get a lot of great character moments, not just from Finn, but from all of the anony-

mous stormtroopers in the film. Despite its general lack of courage to take the franchise in a new direction, this is where The Force Awakens hits it out of the park: the acknowledgment that stormtroopers are people—and hey, guess what, this is a galaxy full of individuals—opens up the film to some of its best comedic moments, like the medic who heals Chewbacca and assures him that yes, she's sure he's very brave.

Is The Force Awakens a successful reboot? Yes. Is it an iconic or memorable film? Not in the slightest. It's an enjoyable film, and it's an adequate olive branch for fans, but its slavish devotion to the original formula leaches some of the magic out of this galaxy far, far away. Still, now that we've established our new characters and cleared our throats of the prequel trilogy, maybe we're finally read to head off in a new direction.

The film plays it safe, but it reestablishes trust. At the end of this new beginning, Episode VII has set the table—we'll have to wait for Episode VIII to enjoy the feast.

BRUCE CINNAMON

BRUCE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // DRAMA

Carol

A

lingering glance, a hand on a shoulder, the tentative plunking out of "Easy Living" on a living room piano. A sudden impulse to acquire a taste for cigarettes, dry martinis and poached eggs. How very knowing is Carol about the minutia of falling in love, the way it takes over your mind and your senses, takes away your comfortable notion of selfhood, of family, class and even gender, how it renders your alertness to the world

selective. Every gesture and pause of the beloved becomes freighted with potential consequence. Bliss and despair remain equidistant. Unmoored, you float.

The Price of Salt, the 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel on which Carol is based, gets this in spades.

Highsmith's most famous novel, The Talented Mr Ripley, displays the author's particular genius with psychology, yet it cannot prepare

readers for the dazzling dissection of longing displayed in the lesserknown Salt, a lesbian romance originally published pseudonymously.

Likewise, the best-known films of Todd Haynes (Safe, Far From Heaven, I'm Not There) are all of them interested to some extent in the politics of desire, yet none of them can prepare viewers for the unabashed, concentrated presentation of love hard at work in Carol. While keeping his keen intelligence fully intact, this is Haynes' least concept-driven work (his Mildred Pierce miniseries notwithstanding).

Beginning in a mid-century New York City as wintry as that of Inside Llewyn Davis, Carol introduces us to Therese (Rooney Mara), a struggling young woman who's taken seasonal work at a department store. Into that store comes Carol (Cate Blanchett), older than Therese, affluent and so much more sophisticated, though Therese can hold her own. "Shopping makes me nervous," Carol says.

"Working here makes me nervous," Therese quips in response. Therese convinces Carol to buy a train set for her daughter. Carol leaves behind

her address—and a pair of gloves.

The women meet for lunch. Carol invites Therese to her suburban home, where Therese meets Carol's daughter and the husband (Kyle Chandler) from whom she's trying to negotiate a divorce. Soon Carol invites Therese on a road trip, an escape from a fraught domestic situation for Carol, which is also an escape from an overenamored, increasingly oppressive boyfriend (Jake Lacy) for Therese.

But can these lovers run far enough to escape a homophobic world that wants to keep them apart?

Playwright Phyllis Nagy makes only a few significant changes to Highsmith's characters and narrative, all of them very sharp. Therese is now an aspiring photographer instead of a set designer for the theatre—a smart way of protecting Therese's naïveté and allowing us to literally see Carol as Therese sees her. Where The Price of Salt was told exclusively from Therese's perspective, the film allows us to look in on Carol even when Therese can't—a brilliant way of opening up what was on the page a very internal journey, not to men-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

Opens Friday Directed by Todd Haynes  tion providing what was for me one of the film's most affecting scenes, one where Carol must make a difficult choice regarding her stake in a custody battle. Ed Lachman's cinematography is so fluid and elegant in the way it follows hands, movements and eyes, while Judy Becker's production design is transporting in its array of dusty roses and greens, a grayscale in which brighter tones occasionally burst in. Haynes shrewdly frames his scenes with varying distances. Faces peer through foggy windows. At one point a view from inside a small locker functions as a refuge from prying eyes. Mara is very good in a largely observational role, but Blanchett is a marvel as the elder of the two heroines, the one with more knowledge and more to lose. Everyone working on Carol contributed something thoughtful, artful and, finally, essential. This is a disarmingly earnest, wise, complex and gorgeous film, and—just in time—one of the year's very best.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FILM 11

FILM ASPECTRATIO

BRIAN GIBSON // BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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After Lucia opens with a static shot from inside a car, rear-right seat. Dialogue from outside bubbles around the vehicle, though—a mechanic's telling the owner about all the extensive damage that he's fixed. The man thanks him, takes the keys, gets in and drives off, only to abandon the car at an intersection, walking away, the keys left on the dashboard.

Even if you can't figure out early on why the car was so smashed up and so now this man—Roberto (Hernán Mendoza)—is so extensively damaged himself, possibly beyond repair, the camera shots—Michael Hanekelike in their frequently fixed positions, staring at the coolly modernist spaces (restaurants, apartments, mansions) of a comfortably bourgeois world—suggest his stagnation.

There's something deeply amiss in this chef's life, even as he tries to get back to his haute-cuisine work in Mexico City, moving there from Puerto Vallarta with his daughter Alejandra (Tessa Ia). She remains seemingly cheery, bright, hopeful, a teenager who's a bit worried about her father but not overly so. She can have crying jags, too, though.

Alejandra goes to a private school, bubbled off into cliques, where she

starts to hang out with one group.

But after having sex at a party, with the boy filming them on his phone, she soon discovers that he's emailed the video. (Sex and death soon collide when we see not that footage but cellphone-video of what happened to the car.) She receives nasty texts and is increasingly mocked, harassed and bullied. Her father's faltering at work, when he's not shirking it, while she better hides her concerns, behind that mature façade some older teenagers can adopt, even as she's trying to simply survive school. Their family loss and grief have thrown them off-course, in separate, bobbing lifeboats blown far from each other. The film returns to Roberto near the end, his spousal grief turned into a parental anguish that scorches to anger.

The poster for Michel Franco's film, winner of the top prize at Cannes' Un Certain Regard sidebar in 2012, is a shot of Lucia's head snapping back to the right after she's been slapped.

It's a gun-like recoil from violence even as it freezes the moment just after a sudden blow—that instant of startling, blindsiding pain. And that frozen-ness is here, too—the sense

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12 FILM

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of pooling inertia after a rupturing tragedy. But when that's compounded by the nasty, spurning shame Alejandra's made to feel—especially after her newfound girlfriends turn on her—Franco dentist-drills full-bore into a novocaine-chilled extraction of emotional truth from the deeprooted ache.

After Lucia's not just an after-effects or post-trauma film but confrontational cinema, where we're made to see the humiliations and criminal abuse that Alejandra's made to endure (a bitter birthday, followed by a school trip that's horrifically worse), allying us with her. We feel for her all the more in her growing isolation because the camera looks on—unmoving, distanced, impassive—channelling both the cold of father and daughter's sorrow and her classmates' icicle-stabs of cruelty. But when chilled revenge is added to the mix, do we feel just that little bit complicit? As a recent example of just how coolly detached a weapon the carefully wielded camera can be in its assessment of human behaviour, forcing us to gaze back at what we're capable of, indicting us at our worst, Franco's film is Grade-A and Exhibit A. V

REVUE // COMEDY

Sisters S

isters is a fi ne entry into the "party to end all parties" genre, with two women we've all dreamed about having an insane house party with. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are sisters who have one last night to enjoy their childhood home and take on the high school roles they never got to embody. Fey's Kate is Liz Lemon's direct opposite, with borderline alcoholism and a nevergrow-up attitude. Her character has to become party mom to let Amy Poehler's Maura fi nally break all the rules she never did in high school.

It's fun to see Fey stretch into Kate's leopard-printed party attitude. The opposite personalities, but always tight sisters, is a great device to showcase their comedic chemistry. It's fantastic to see women in the traditional frat boy, stupid party-stunt movie, and the early scenes of Fey and Poehler trading childhood stories hold moments where their own decadeslong friendship is evident in jokes we rarely get to see on screen about mismatched sisterhood.

Written by longtime Saturday Night Live screenwriter Paula Pell, Sisters melds the idiotic party

Now playing Directed by Jason Moore  stunting well with the reasons for the two characters' stalled adulthood. The simple concept takes some time to get into the party zone, but soon hits Old School levels of disasters, which the cohort of familiar Fey and Poehler regulars take on well. Maya Rudolph is delightfully cheesy in the role of the old high school rival out for revenge. And Samantha Bee gets some fantastic screen time as a suburbanite with exhibitionist taste. As with most "last night to party" parties, the slapstick and the comedic destruction can both get a bit heavy handed, but it never becomes too much.

Overall, the simple comedic party formula works well to deliver the jokes, and Fey and Poehler carry the comedy. It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it will serve your Star Wars hangover well and deserves a spot along with the top high school party-one-more-time movies.

SAMANTHA POWER

SAMANTHA@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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Find your best, bar none at BestBarNone.ab.ca VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

FILM 13

REVUE // VIDEO GAME

POP

ARTS EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Soul survivor

Searching for humanity in the wasteland of Fallout 4

I

've awakened from two centuries of cryogenic sleep, and I'm pissed.

I've watched my old life vanish in an instant, consumed in the sudden flash of an atomic blast. I've seen strangers murder my spouse and kidnap my infant son while I was helpless to stop them. And now I've met a man named Preston who says he can help me find the people responsible, if only I help him and the remnants of his citizens' militia find a new home. But as he explains his plight in a dramatic monologue, a military aircraft comes crashing down from the sky, annihilating a nearby group of innocent bystanders in a rain of chaos. Preston is unfazed—he just wants to know if I can get the radio beacon working.

Scenes like this are hardly a part of the script in Fallout 4, yet they're incredibly common. Wasteland survivors watch as I sow slaughter upon an army of raiders, then ask about the weather. Enemies see their friends vaporized by a blast from my laser rifle, and then, moments later, insist they "must be seeing things." I infiltrate an underground bunker with surgical precision, only to have my canine companion wander carelessly through a laser-tripwire trap, obliterating both of us instantly.

Over a month since the game's release, I've had plenty of time to explore every corner of the Wasteland and immerse myself in its beautifully rendered world. But it's difficult to feel like I'm truly a part of Fallout 4's Boston Commonwealth, because scenes like these are so common. For a AAA blockbuster title that's already on course to be one of the season's best-selling titles, it's underscored by a plethora of bugs, glitches and

14 POP

"features" that make delving into the war-torn world an exercise in hilarious frustration.

It's not really my fault, though.

Fallout 4 invited me with open arms be an active participant in its living, breathing world, full of complex characters, each with their own motivations and backstories, and I've done everything I can to make my actions feel like they're supported by real agency. I'm tasked with helping to rebuild a world ravaged by nuclear war by carving out my own slice of home and making it hospitable for other wasteland settlers. Seventy hours into my first play-through, I've spent more time cobbling together ramshackle huts and defenses from salvaged scrap than I have actually trying to find my missing son. It's not that I don't care what happened to him—it's just that, in a world so full of unscripted, uncontrollable AI behaviour, the only reliable constants I've found are in the cages I build myself to keep that world contained.

Situations like these are now so typical of Bethesda Softworks' suite of games that it's simply part of their tradition. In a recent thinkpiece for Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alex Wiltshire recently tackled this ever-present struggle within Fallout 4's narrative, questioning the countless incongruities of a world that expects us to accept that survivors of the apocalypse would establish an entirely new economy based in bottle-caps, but neglect to dispose of the skeletons that literally fill their closets and dining rooms. But my existential struggle with Fallout 4 goes even deeper, to the heart of the game's

design. Bethesda's Gamebryo engine is infamous for its instability, breeding countless encounters with characters who don't act like real humans, and objects that disregard all basic laws of physics. But in a game that not only allows, but encourages players to push the world to its limits, non-sequitur character interactions are now just part of the experience. It doesn't matter whether that NPC is a bitter enemy or a close friend—if they're unintentionally caught in the crossfire of a fight you didn't even start, you might find yourself at the mercy of their unrelenting programming as they hunt you down wherever you travel, day after day, to the ends of the earth, until you are dead.

The fact that this is just an accepted part of Bethesda's games may come from the fact that, for all intents and purposes, they have a virtual monopoly on their particular flavour of game. Others studios have flirted with the scope and scale of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games (most notably in The Witcher and the most recent chapter in BioWare's Dragon Age series) but developers have otherwise been content to give Bethesda free reign over the type of game where anything can happen, and any object or being can be interacted with, manipulated or destroyed. This was eye-opening in 2006, when The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion kicked open the doors that its predecessor Morrowind had just begun to crack. It was novel when Fallout 3 re-launched the classic series and invited players to explore the post-apocalyptic wastes of Washington, DC, like we'd never seen them before. By the time Skyrim debuted in 2011, the idiosyn-

crasies of the Bethesda style had become tropes, peppering the ambitious fantasy epic with absurd scenes of "emergent" AI behaviour—such as allowing characters to loot a shop empty by placing a bucket over the shopkeeper's head. Now that Fallout 4 is effectively running on the same decade-old engine, we're left playing it with quaint admiration while inane NPC behaviour strains our suspension of disbelief.

But Fallout 4 isn't alone in its struggle to create a believable world propped up by limited hardware.

The quest for virtual verisimilitude remains the greatest challenge for video games at large, and as the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, so too do the worlds and characters with which players interact.

But for the past decade or so, video games have found themselves trudging through the murk of the Uncanny Valley, and their artificially intelligent avatars are now almost-but-not-quite believable as real humans, ensuring that we notice less of what makes them human, and more of what keeps them inhuman.

Some current-gen games manage to emulate humans in a way that's convincing enough—at least within the confines of their controlled, scripted cutscenes, but lose their lustre when control is returned to the player. Many games avoid this issue entirely by doubling down on their cartoonishness with a healthy dose of self-awareness, reminding us that the actors are nothing more than pixels and code. Fallout 4, however, exists in a state of limbo between these polar extremes, at once reminding us of

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

Now Available Fallout 4

By Bethesda Softworks the franchise's inherent silliness while still attempting to tell an emotionally weighty story. And it would work, if only the game's inner code weren't held together with Wonderglue and Insta-Mash.

It's not as though this is Bethesda's fault, either. As Zak McClendon at Wired pointed out, the studio has intentionally remained comparatively small, sacrificing the polish expected from the blockbuster game-development cycle for fostering creativity and boosting morale within their ranks.

And for what it's worth, there's a certain charm to playing such a massive game full of ridiculous bugs. There's something to be said for the sense of levity that unnatural, inhuman AI behaviour can inject into a setting so macabre. It can foster a spirit of exploration by keeping the player on the far side of an emotionally bereft chasm filled with soulless actors who simply exist to advance your own story. While I often struggle with ethically complex decisions in the best-told narratives, Fallout 4 allows me to indulge my deepest curiosities with no such moral struggle—for instance, wondering, "What would happen if I fired a dozen nuclear warheads into this village of innocent civilians?"

The answer, it turns out, is a torrent of fire and gore, and an unharmed militiaman who just really wants to know how that radio beacon is coming.

MIKE KENDRICK

MIKE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

POP 15

SNOW ZONE // ICE

SNOW ZONE

T

// Stephan Boissonneault

he day starts off like every other—cold and wet. One by one the workers arrive on site, zip into their winter jackets and don their thick gloves. They are each equipped with a pair of clamp-on ice spikes to secure to their boots and a safety helmet to prevent injury from a serious fall on the slick terrain. Each specialist scurries to a section and begins harvesting. By the end of the day, they are carpeted in fresh ice as a result of being doused by running sprinklers.

"Coming out of it covered in ice is almost like wearing a badge of honour," says Brent Christensen, founder of the Ice Castles company, as he wipes away shards of ice clinging to his company jacket.

The ice-castle project, which involves Christensen and a team of determined Edmontonians building Canada's first acre-sized ice castle, is both astounding and mystical. Edmonton's Hawrelak Park is the setting for the phenomenal Arctic creation.

Having been in the works for close to three years, the formation of an ice castle this size was something of a fantastic notion. It was only when representatives of the Silver Skate Festival suggested Edmonton was the perfect place for this frozen kingdom to Christensen's Utah-based company that the dream became a reality.

The project began as an alignment of sprinklers that stretched about three kilometres in length. But after just a few days of icicle growth, the site was brimming with mini glacial hills and pillars. A week or so later, the castle began to take form, growing to about waist height and into towering walls.

"When the temps are cold and there's more mass for the water to land on, it can grow exponentially in a couple days," Christensen says.

To build this frozen behemoth, the crew grows icicles on metal frames, harvesting them when they are fully formed. Once formed, the icicles are fastened onto ice mounds, which develop by running sprinklers over-

EDITOR: JASMINE SALAZAR JASMINE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

night—they are aligned both horizontally and vertically to form a lattice framework. This approach enables the ice room to "organically grow," and eventually morph into massive frozen towers and walls.

"People don't even see the coolest part of the growth," Christensen notes. "We actually have to engineer ice stairs internally by laying out vertical and horizontal icicles so we can climb up and work higher the next day. It can be lots of fun."

Christensen started his company seven years ago when he found that he had a knack for creating massive ice structures. After moving his young family from sunny California to a wintry Utah, Christensen did what any devoted father would do—he discovered something exciting for his kids to do in their new cold environment. He went to work in his backyard crafting igloos, ice forts, caves and slides for his kids to play on until one year, when he created a 20-foot ice mound out of wood and running sprinklers that featured a luge, a cave—the works. Christensen eventually discovered he did not need the wood at all, realizing he could create these enormous ice structures by masterfully fusing icicles together instead. After this epiphany, Ice Castles was born.

"The main intent was to make a little fort for my kids, and I guess it got a little out of hand," Christensen says with a laugh.

The ice castle attraction in Hawrelak Park is being done in partnership with Edmonton's Silver Skate Festival—a 10-day family oriented winter festival that features recreational and art activities all around the park in early February.

Christian Denis, lead artist of Silver Skate Festival, is one of the overseers of the ice-castle construction, assisting with the composition of the ice castle through icicle harvesting or ensuring the growth of the castle fits the design plan.

"I wouldn't say I have a specific role,"

EDGECONTROL SKI SHOP

Denis says. "I've been here since the beginning, and I need to make sure this thing turns out awesome. There's that 'wow factor' that I need to make sure happens."

Experimenting with ice is certainly Denis' forte. Being the Director of Ice and Snow for the Sculptors Association of Alberta and working with Silver Skate Festival, Denis found his love and talent working with the medium and its many characteristics.

"Ice, it's almost like it's alive when you play with it," he notes. "You're always improvising when it's constantly changing. It kind of forces you to be on your toes all the time. I love that organic feel. Plus, there's also the fact that you don't get to keep it at the end. It's not something that's tangible—you have to say goodbye."

The finished ice castle will feature an open courtyard, a slide, a waterfall, caves, a throne, labyrinthine tunnels, a fireplace and a fountain, as well as LED lights embedded in the ice that are synchronized to music. Admission into the castle is $15, and can be purchased online at icecastles.com Edmonton is the only Canadian spot in which the development will take place. But, other cities getting an ice castle include: Midway, Utah; Eden Prairie, Minnesota and Lincoln, New Hampshire.

The crew is hoping the castle will be completed just before the new year, but that is all up to Jack Frost.

"We're at the mercy of weather out here," Denis says. "We had a slow start because of the early warm winter, but now it seems like we might get this thing done in time."

Denis is beyond excited to unveil the castle for viewers to enjoy.

"I've been excited for this for three years now and it's the perfect time.

Edmonton is an arts city that is finally starting to embrace and celebrate winter. This ice castle is only going to amplify it."

STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT STEPHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

SNOW ZONE 17

FALLLINES

ALL MOUNTAIN RESORTS IN WESTERN CANADA ARE OPEN

I have a Whistler Blackcomb app— available for Android and iPhone— on my mobile device, which has been updating me with real-time mountain information on lift status, trail conditions, weather and more. Although useful, it is quite torturous to be made aware of the continuous heavy snowfall at this somewhat distant resort. These westerly storms frequently collide with northerly fronts right above our more local resorts in Jasper, Banff and further south, resulting in a bit of magic of our own.

At Marmot Basin, the Knob and Eagles East terrain is open, which is always a good reflection of snow conditions since both areas require significant snowfall and mountain operations before expert skiers can pound the slopes. Conditions are similar at Sunshine Village—though, at the time of writing, Delirium Dive and a few of the Goat's Eye tracks still need some more snow and work. All lifts are running and the majority of Sunshine's runs are open—with the exception of Gully's on Whitehorn 2—at Lake Louise. It's good to see that Castle Mountain is in the snowfall track this year. Most of the runs are open, and cat skiing is scheduled to start on December 26. Finally, Fernie has opened with a bang as several heavy snow storms passed over just prior to them

18 SNOW ZONE

SNOW ZONE HART GOLBECK HART@VUEWEEKLY.COM

SNOW ZONE // NYE

cranking up their lifts.

All off the terrain parks are adding jumps and rails daily for the boarders and skicross enthusiasts that have been waiting patiently to get out of the mini parks. Remember, these conditions are subject to change over the holiday season.

Keep an eye on the storm fronts and head out to find your secret powder stash.

MOUNTAIN EVENTS TO MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR

Red Bull Cold Rush is happening February 2 – 5 at Revelstoke Resort. Twenty-one of the greatest skiers in the world will assemble there to tackle all the mountain has to offer, vying for the best allaround freeskier title. Competitors will be judged in four disciplines including backcountry slopestyle, big mountain, cliffs and alpine touring. It takes a special mountain and favourable snow conditions to host this event, making Revelstoke this year's choice due to its propitious snow conditions and upcoming weather prediction models.

Mark your calendar because the annual Jasper in January festival is taking place January 16 – 31, 2016.

It's a favourite among Edmontontians, as the two weeks offer deals on accommodations, lift tickets and parties galore. Hops & Scotch, Chili Cookoff and Arts on Ice are just some of the events to check out. V

Slide into 2016

A look at what the mountain resorts have in store for NYE celebrations

T

here's nothing better than getting your New Year's on at a mountain resort. Whatever you are feeling this NYE, ski resorts have got you covered, offering both free, family friendly events and swanky soirées.

"There is no better tradition," says Matt Mosteller, marketing mogul at Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.

"Mountain time provides huge benefits like social time, mountain air, spectacular scenery and, most importantly, that real time for connecting and playing together."

New Year's Eve at Rocky Mountain resorts include free family New Year's Eve parties at Fernie's main village square, Kimberley's Plaza and Kicking Horse Plaza in Golden, as well as more upscale events at the resorts' restaurants.

For decades, Banff's ski areas have been holding big New Year's events, and the tradition continues with the fourth-annual torchlight parade, which has become an iconic Canadian Rockies tradition. The proces-

sion heads down the summit of the North American Chair, which can be viewed in the town of Banff. Be in Banff by 7 pm on December 31 to see it. Or, if you're feeling adventurous and want to ski in the parade, be up at Norquay mountain before 3:45 pm the day of the event. (You have to do a brief ski test with the patrols before they let you take part—otherwise, it's free to participate.)

Lake Louise also has a torchlight parade that starts from its midmountain lodge and winds up at the daylodge, located at the base of the resort. This one is more formal, though: $76 gets you food and entertainment both before and after the parade. You can also just enjoy the dinner and a dance, without having to participate in the parade, for $66.

At Sunshine Village, New Year's Eve activities revolve around its Sunshine Mountain Lodge, so only those staying in its accommodations can take part. Activities include a torch-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

light parade, a roaring fire pit, tobogganing and live music.

In Jasper, the biggest New Year's bash takes place at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge where you can have your choice of a five-course dinner and dance, which starts at $199 per person, or a buffet with family activities for $130 per person. There's also the option to just attend the countdown celebrations at JPL's Beauvert Dining Room at no cost, where there will be live music to mix and mingle your way into 2016.

Down at Castle Mountain Resort, there's a free New Year's bonfire and a pair of New Year's parties to choose from: one is in the main lodge and the other in the cozy little T-Bar Pub. Both have a cover charge and feature live music and party treats.

There's plenty to do in the mountains for New Year's Eve. Now it's just a matter of getting you and your family's cranberry-and-gravy-soaked selves out there.

STEVEN KENWORTHY

STEVEN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

COVER // PUNK-ROCK

MUSIC

MUSIC EDITOR: MEAGHAN BAXTER MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

// Meaghan Baxter

A PROPER BURIAL Murder City Sparrows returns for the send-off show it never had

A

t the tail end of 2009, Murder City Sparrows played a New Year's Eve show at the nowshuttered Urban Lounge. It wasn't supposed to be the end of anything except the year; for the band, just another set in a rigorous, five-year lineage of non-stop touring. But it proved to be Murder City Sparrows' swansong: shortly after the show, the band quietly bowed out of active status, and hasn't played a show in the six years since.

"A couple of the guys got really burnt out from the constant touring, and the demands of what that means in Canada," frontman Jay Sparrow reflects. "What was disappointing about [that New Year's gig] was it was a really great show, but it didn't feel like an ending, like a proper sort of farewell gig—'cause we didn't know that at the time."

That's the sort of non-ending that stays with you. There'd been talk, over the years, of reuniting for a proper send-off, but it wasn't until this year that everything lined up,

on a suitably apt date: this NYE, six years to the day of its last performance, Murder City Sparrows is returning to give itself a proper burial.

"We've been offered gigs in the past, by promoters trying to get us to do a one-off or something, and we just thought this was the right time. And we're all going to be in the same city, so [it's] a good moment for it," Sparrow says. "I also think that a certain amount of time had to go by before we were feeling nostalgic for those songs, and missing them enough."

The punk-rock four piece had its heyday in the mid-2000s: Murder City Sparrows enjoyed radio play and courted some major-label interest across a pair of albums (including the Gordie Johnson-produced Dead Horse Disco in 2009), but its timing proved trying: the band was starting to gain profile as the music industry was spiralling into its collapse.

"It was an odd time to be doing well as a band," Sparrow says, a wry laugh in his voice. "We had an unbelievable amount of opportunities

that were hard to realize, because all of the labels and the funding bodies were in flux. Everyone was losing their jobs at that time, the major labels were downsizing to next to nothing and being eaten up by other major labels."

Only the band's drummer, Lanny— credited as The Lanny, actually—had stepped back from music somewhat.

"I think he felt like he needed a break from the music industry," Sparrow says. "It's a tough grind out there in Canada."

In the interim years, the band's membership didn't drift far from one another: Sparrow was releasing solo records that spanned a variety of musical styles before the band's dissolution, and simply continued to do so. He's lived in a scatter of cities across Canada, but doesn't seem to settle in any particular one ("Home's still Edmonton; I'm in Toronto right now, and the number you called is my Victoria number," he offers). Doc de Groot, Murder City's bassist, plays a few different instruments as part of Sparrow's solo outfit. Guitarist Mike Nash also still plays with Sparrow (on bass), as well as in Owls By Nature, and commands a solo career of his own: he released his solo debut, Hard Stuff Radio, earlier this year.

For the farewell show, the band's mixing in a little bit of new with the old: it's premiering a trio of unreleased songs, recorded during the sessions for Dead Horse Disco.

(They've been trickling out online in advance of the gig.)

Returning to all this material was also meant revisiting a genre the band's members effectively left behind. Sparrow admits that relearning the old songs—speedy punk-rock rushes of sound—came with a bit of trepidation, as well as a renewed appreciation for the style's skillset.

"It was really frightening and daunting, actually," Sparrow says. "They're pretty aggressive, high-screaming/ singing rock 'n' roll songs. And I haven't sang that way since our last

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

Thu, Dec 31 (9 pm) With Owls By Nature, Jellybean On The Rocks, $25 (show), $45 (show and dinner) Murder City show—my solo career has been quite a bit different from that style of music. It's been kind of a struggle getting our vocal chops and our hands moving fast enough to play those punk songs again.

"It's funny that we ended up in a band like that, because I never really followed punk music," he reflects.

"I don't know how we ended up in that world, but I have a fondness for it moreso now, because I haven't played it in years. ... There's a visceral sort of disassociation of yourself when you're playing it, where you're kind of detached from yourself because it's so aggressive. So much energy has to come out of you that it feels cathartic."

PAUL BLINOV

PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

MUSIC 19

MUSIC PREVUE // PUNK

The Franklins

N

o one forgot the Franklins.

After the band played its last show in 2008, drummer Clint Frazier—affectionately known as "Snarf"—went on to drum in countless other bands, including Shout Out Out Out Out and Physical Copies, but nobody let him forget what the public really wanted: another Franklins show.

"Especially if I'd go to a punk show people would say, 'You should play again, you should play again,'" he says. "I knew that there were some

diehard fans, but I didn't know it would be this crazy."

The craziness is the fact that the Franklins—a band no one has heard from in seven years, that doesn't have a Bandcamp or social media presence, whose records aren't even on iTunes—watched as one reunion show sold out immediately, followed quickly by a hastily organized second.

"I'm getting a lot of complaints from family and friends who didn't get tickets on time," guitarist and singer Jonny Olbey laments. "I don't know

what to tell them—it's a difficult spot to be in."

The Franklins emerged out of Harry Ainlay High School in 1998 as Head Cheese for the Masses. The band went through a succession of names—and a few drummers—before landing on the classic lineup and enduring moniker. Through it all, the trio of Jonny Olbey (Jonny O), Tyler Skripnik (TJ Skidmarks), and Ken Billington (Kenny Seldom) remained constant. The band wrote songs about high school, skateboarding, underage drinking, ideas for ritual suicide: everyday stuff.

Frazier—who grew up in Bon Accord—joined in 2001. While the rest of the band was of legal age by then, he was only 14. You might think it would put a kibosh on performing but, at the time, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission offered a special licence to underage performers with parental permission to be in a licensed establishment (the Commission scrapped the special licences in 2007). The club would have to hang the one-night licence behind the bar where an inspector could see it and, as long as he didn't drink, Frazier could play.

"When I played New City and Sidetrack and Seedy's I had to bring it in.

My mom would have to fax AGLC and they would send a fax back with a permit, and I'd have to bring it with me," Frazier remembers. "We started playing so much that I just couldn't get them printed every time—some gigs

would slide through the cracks. The owner would be like, 'Hey, where's your permit?' and I'd say 'My mom's driving in from Bon Accord with it later!' But she wasn't even coming."

There wasn't a catalyst for the band's demise, no onstage blowout or behind-the-venue fistfight that ended the whole thing. The members just stopped writing music and wanted to do other things.

"I think we were all young men at a weird time in our lives," Olbey says.

"We had been in this band for a long time at that point—since high school.

We were kind of trying to figure out who the hell we were as grownups."

Since the final show, the band members went their separate ways: Olbey to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of Art and Design, Billington recently returned from an extended stay in South America, Skripnik acquired his private pilot's licence while Frazier has kept busy running not only a commercial painting business but the recently shuttered downtown arts venue SPACE. As soon as the group got together to jam again, however, it was as if someone took their finger off the pause button.

"The feeling between all of us is exactly the same," Frazier says. "It really feels like you can just jump back in and there's no awkwardness."

If there has been any awkwardness, it's been when their 30-something bodies can't keep up with the rigorous musical pace they set for them-

Sat, Dec 26 (9 pm) With No Problem, E-Town Beatdown, the Strap Sun, Dec 27 (9 pm) With Tarantuja, Strangled, Narkotta DV8, Sold out

selves as teenagers.

"I barely played guitar for the past five years," Olbey admits. "It's pretty easy to remember the songs, but the physical part of it is tough because we play so crazy fast."

"The first couple rehearsals, I was horrible ... I was huffing and puffing like, 'Oh my god, I'm going to die,'" Frazier adds.

In many ways the Franklins were more than just a band—they were the hub of the wheel for a whole scene. The Old Strathcona house that three-quarters of the band shared became affectionately known as Franklinville, and the basement jam space the band constructed had a near open-door policy, providing a practice facility to bands from all different genres. Reactivating that scene and reminiscing has been part of the appeal of the reunion.

"I've already had a great time, seeing old faces and jamming," Olbey says.

"It's not just the shows—everything surrounding it is part of the fun."

BRYAN BIRTLES

BRYAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // HOLIDAY MUSIC

'Tis the season

Current and former local musicians share their picks for Yuletide melodies

I

t's Christmas Eve, dear reader, and we at Vue have a gift for you. We asked some of the city's current and former musicians what they would be listening to this holiday season and what those songs meant to them.

The answers warmed our shrivelled, jaded, music-journalist hearts, so delight in this complex array of seasonal jams.

Eamon McGrath Christmas by Low My go-to holiday record is Christmas

by Low—one of my favourite bands, and a brave and gutsy record, in my opinion. They tackle the so-often cheesy and tacky task of making a Christmas album and do it with such grace and elegance, such a brooding and thought-provoking sense of atmosphere, and also—gasp—original Christmas songs. The title track has such beautiful lyrics: Alan Sparhawk so perfectly describes snow falling on the Norwegian countryside as the train approaches Oslo as the clock turns to 12:01 on December 25, and it's a mind-blowing complement to

20 MUSIC

an early morning glass of bourbon on Christmas Day. There's nothing plastic or materialistic about this record, something that's become to be synonymous with this season. Low's Christmas is a much-needed escape.

Jay Sparrow of Murder City Sparrows Christmas Flashback by Bobby Curtola When I was about five years old I was on the Bobby Curtola Christmas TV Special. My father was his band leader and bass player at that time, and he felt it would be fun for us. It was. A little background on Bobby for the younger folks: Bobby was basically Canada's first pop star, garnering the first gold record in the early '60s. In the '90s Bobby released a record called Christmas Flashback, which we often listened to as kids during the holidays—plenty of fond memories. Bobby's family suffered a tragedy very recently, so I send my love their way.

Chris Bruce of Cygnets A Christmas Gift for You by Phil Spector Around this time of year I always like to pull out Phil Spector's Back To Mono box set. It contains A Christmas Gift For You, which is easily one of the best-sounding compilations of old holiday standards around. The rest of the box is the Wall Of Sound in full effect: undeniable 1960s pop singles that sound massive compared to others of the era. Let's not forget that Phil Spector is a convicted murderer and generally terrible person, though.

Amelia Aspen of The Lad Mags "Changes" (Black Sabbath Cover)

by Charles Bradley "Find Yourself" by Jacco Gardner Usually by this time of year I have been mall-Christmas-carolled/family timed into an atomically bitchy state, so my holiday listening would either be something to utterly alienate my family, or something so meh that they wouldn't bother commenting. I just moved to Europe, though, and can't afford to come back for the holidays.

This year I actually miss those twerps and all their yammering and opinions, so my holiday mix is mostly homesick nostalgia jams. My homesick holiday pick is the Sweety Pie Records comp, obviously. (I miss all you butts! Come to France!). If I was with my family and picking records everyone could dig I'd go for Jacco Gardner or that wicked Charles Bradley Black Sabbath cover.

Craig Schram of the Provincial Archive The Nutcracker Suite by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra This is a classic, in my books, and the arrangements keep on giving.

It plugs some magic right into my brain: inducing my own fever-dream land of sweets, mouse kings and toy-soldiers. "Sugar Rum Cherry," Duke Ellington's [take on] "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," will be your best friend for a late-night slink and wobble home from a party. And after a good listen, you're likely to leave the winter streets believing in Santa Claus. Oh, and there is the obvious

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

benefit of not having to listen to the words from your standard catalog of old holiday theme songs.

Nathaniel Sutton of Brother Octopus "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by The Irish Rovers "The 12 Days of Christmas" by Bob and Doug McKenzie Throughout my time growing up between being a baby octopus and an adult octopus, there has been a lot of Christmas music. Every Christmas, father octopus would have a Christmas compilation prepared to play through the stereo system while the family opens their presents. The most memorable songs are probably Christmas comedy classics such as "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by the Irish Rovers and, of course, Bob and Doug with their rendition of "12 Days of Christmas." These songs are probably the most memorable because they made us laugh as children and still do to this day.

SHAWN BERNARD

SHAWN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // ROCK

Royal Tusk ous changes: a new label, a new producer and a new guitarist. And while a shakeup in roster or personnel can derail a band, Royal Tusk has continued on its trajectory forward, recording its inaugural full-length album in the latter half of the year.

"What happened was we really better understood what the band is, what it sounds like, what we like, how we want to sound," Carriere notes.

S

igning with a label, acquiring a booking agent, a single charting on radio and a national tour were career milestones that Royal Tusk set out to reach when the band formed in 2013, and the Edmonton-based rock group has since achieved all of them.

"As far as goals for the future, I'm a

little superstitious; I don't like to divulge too much because it may take away from the probability," laughs frontman Daniel Carriere.

2014 saw the release of Royal Tusk's debut EP, Mountain, a collection of hook-laden pop-rock that served as an introduction to the band's still-evolv-

ing style. Two of its tracks—"Shadow of Love" and "Smoke Rings"—garnered significant radio play, and the group was able to quickly broaden its audience with a run of Canadian tour dates supporting Big Wreck.

2015, while still a positive year for Royal Tusk, brought about numer-

Mountain, not unlike most debut records, allowed Royal Tusk to find its footing and build on the sound its members naturally gravitated to.

Carriere says the group headed into the new record—more details about its release date and name will be revealed in January—with a clear vision of where it wanted to head musically.

Carriere also feels the album better captures the band's energy, as parts of it were recorded live off the floor rather than employing a great deal of overdubbing.

"I think we've always been a pretty guitar-driven band, and the kind of route we went with Mountain was a little closer towards pop songwriting, a little bit further away from a love of the guitar," he explains. "It largely has to do with, I think, an insecurity

Thu, Dec 31 (8 pm) With Thrillhouse, Norell Denizen Hall, $15 in advance, $20 at the door about the guitar itself, because there was a long period where I feel like in modern pop-rock many bands were afraid of putting guitar in their music—as if it had been played out or something. But, I mean, those kinds of fears are silly. We love playing guitar, and we really just wanted a good oldfashioned heavy-guitar record."

Helping in the guitar department was Ian Thornley of Big Wreck, whom Carriere says the band has stayed in touch with since the tour wrapped.

Thornley lends his venerable sixstring skills to the massive solo on "So Long, The Build Up," which Carriere notes is one of his oldest songs, and the first track the band learned when it formed.

"We took it to pre-production stage on Mountain as well, but I don't think the song really matched our previous producer's [Gus van Go] vision of the band, so coming in to do this record this particular producer [Eric Ratz] loved it, which is great because we love it," he says. "We've been playing it since the beginning too, so I think a lot of fans will recognize it as well."

MEAGHAN BAXTER

MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // FOLK

Jom Comyn Thu, Dec 31 (9 pm) With Betrayers The Empress, $25 produced by six different producers, including Tyler Butler, Renny Wilson and Liam Trimble (Diamond Mind).

"I sort of stopped worrying about what Jom Comyn was going to do or not do, or where it was going to go," he says. "I was pretty happy to play with different people ... I learned to not worry about it too much, and just do whatever I want to do."

// Jill Stanton

I

f you're a music promoter in Edmonton—or anywhere else in Canada, for that matter—trying to get Jom Comyn to play your venue/ event/festival, you probably had very little luck.

"This year, I learned how to say no to a lot of things," explains Jim Cuming, who performs under the Jom Comyn moniker and, full disclosure, writes the occasional story for Vue. "I didn't play a lot of shows, because I was taking my time tracking for the next album. And I was keeping busy with Faith Healer. I was just saying no to

every show that came my way."

After having a very busy 2014 loaded with a string of Edmonton shows, a Canada-wide tour and the release of his full-length album, In the Dark on 99 (All the Time, All the Time), Cuming went into eight months of hibernation—with the exception of a Jom Comyn performance at this year's Sled Island in Calgary, where he had the opportunity to open for Bry Webb from the Constantines.

While Cuming eased up on the number of gigs, he released The Black Pits in July—an EP that featured six songs

While Cuming took some down time from his work as Jom Comyn, he used that opportunity to play guitar alongside vocalist Jessica Jalbert in Faith Healer, and the group went on tour alongside Calgary's Chad VanGaalen this year.

In 2016, Cuming plans to pick up steam again, with a full-length Jom Comyn album planned for spring. The currently untitled album will feature 28 tracks from Cuming's backlog of material.

"It's another weirdo, personal project that is self-indulgent [with] different genres for every song," he explains. "It's fun to do something for yourself, and not worry if a label will pick it up. ... [It'll] be one big messy record."

JASMINE SALAZAR

JASMINE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

.com

holiday schedule Dec 24–27 No live entertainment, jam or karaoke Dec 31 Dirt Road Angels Jan 3 Sunday Jam returns!

12340 Fort RD • sandshoteledmonton.com MUSIC 21

MUSIC MUSIC NOTES

JASMINE SALAZAR // JASMINE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

TALLEST TO SHORTEST / SAT, DEC 26 (9 PM)

OK, so you stuffed yourself with too much turkey (#noregrets) and now you're thinking of those darn New Year's resolutions. Lose some of those extra turkey calories with a rock sesh provided by Edmonton's Tallest to Shortest. (Filthy McNasty's, Free)

SAMARA VON RAD / SAT, DEC 26 (4 PM)

The best afternoon is the kind that involves some good music—in this case provided by folk songwriter Samara Von Rad—and beer. (Black Dog, Free)

10442 whyte ave 439.1273 10442 whyte ave 439.1273 VINCE GUARALDI TRIO

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

HIP HOP ON THE AVE / SUN, DEC 27 (4 PM)

CD / LP

It's the annual event where local hip-hop acts come together to support Santas Anonymous. Performances from Native Prodigy, Angel Morningstar, Cab'ral, Doom Squad and more. The event is open to all ages and admission is free with the donation of a new, unwrapped toy. (Alberta Avenue Community Centre)

SAM SPADES / WED, DEC 30 – SUN, JAN 3 (9 PM)

You have a few opportunities to catch the rockabilly sounds of Sam Spades. Consider yourself lucky. (Blues on Whyte)

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w w w. b l a c k b y r d . c a SEE MAG: Jan 3, 1c x 2”/ 28 AG RB: BLACKBYRD MYOOZIK SALES:Samantha H S01367

BOBBY CAMERON / THU, DEC 31 (9 PM)

Long before he became known as a hit blues songwriter, Bobby Cameron was a guitar slinger, winning a round of Much Music Guitar Warz in the process. (Big Al's House of Blues, $50)

THE VELVETEINS / THU, DEC 31 (8 PM)

If you want to ring in the new year with some psychedelia, attending this psych-blues show should do the trick.

(Black Dog, $15)

COMEDY AT THE CENTURY CASINO

NEW YEAR'S EVE AT BOHEMIA / THU, DEC 31 (9:30 PM)

Five bands will be providing musical entertainment for when the clock strikes midnight. Featuring the sounds of Nolocus, Pyramid // Indigo, Bong Sample, Conjure and Official Opposition. Good luck trying to find a better deal this NYE. (Bohemia, $5)

THE WET SECRETS / THU, DEC 31 (9 PM)

Call 780.481.YUKS FOR TICKETS & INFO .....................................................................

What are the key ingredients for a good time? High school band costumes (think Drumline), dancing ladies with brassy hornstacks, cool basslines and congas. Switches will be there, too. Drink plenty of fluids, because you will be breaking a sweat. (9910, $30)

HOWIE MILLER THUR DEC 31

DEC 31

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS / FRI, JAN 1 (8 PM)

If you aren't nursing a hangover from last night's events, get your butt down to the Buckingham for a special performance from Winnipeg rock group Sights and Sounds. (Buckingham, $20)

FRI JAN 29

SAT JAN 16 COMING SOON: HONEYMOON SUITE, GEORGE CANYON, IRISH DESCENDANTS AND MORE!

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CENTURY CASINO AND TICKETMASTER

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EDMONTON.CNTY.COM 13103 FORT RD • 643-4000 22 MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

THE SILKSTONES / SAT, JAN 2 (4 PM)

This Lethbridge-based band cites the likes of Beck, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan and George Harrison as influences, resulting an amalgamation of folk-rock styles. (Black Dog, Free)

MUSIC

WEEKLY

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

THU DEC 24 ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE Live Music every

Thu; 9pm BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Thirsty Thursday Jam; 7:30pm CAFÉ HAVEN Music every

Thu; 7pm CARROT COFFEEHOUSE

Thu Open Mic: All adult performers are welcome (music, song, spoken word); every Thu, 1:303pm CHA ISLAND TEA CO Bring

Your Own Vinyl Night: Every Thu; 8pm-late; Edmonton Couchsurfing Meetup: Every Thu; 8pm

Common Uncommon Thursday: Rotating Guests each week!

ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce Grove DJ every Thu FILTHY MCNASTY’S Taking

Back Thursdays KRUSH ULTRA LOUNGE

Open stage; 7pm; no cover ON THE ROCKS Salsa Rocks: every Thu; dance lessons at 8pm; Cuban Salsa DJ to follow UNION HALL 3 Four All

Thursdays: rock, dance, retro, top 40 with DJ Johnny Infamous

FRI DEC 25

Grove DJ every Fri THE PROVINCIAL PUB

Friday Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJ Brodeep RED STAR Movin’ on Up:

indie, rock, funk, soul, hip hop with DJ Gatto, DJ Mega Wattson; every Fri SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

Amplified Fridays: Dubstep, house, trance, electro, hip hop breaks with DJ Aeiou, DJ Loose Beats, DJ Poindexter; 9:30pm (door) UNION HALL Ladies Night

every Fri Y AFTERHOURS Foundation

Fridays

SAT DEC 26 ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL

Mummers Xmas Party featuring Duff Robison; 9pm BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Hair of the Dog: Samara Von Rad (live acoustic music every Sat); 4-6pm; no cover BLUES ON WHYTE Charlie

Jacobson; 9pm BOHEMIA DARQ Saturdays:

THE MERCURY ROOM

Rhythm Royalty DJs featuring Beachmastersurfertruce (DJ/electronic/rap) and Rebellion; 9pm; $5 MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Live Local Bands every Sat NEW WEST HOTEL Nash

Ramblers O’BYRNE’S Live band

every Sat, 3-7pm; DJ every Sat, 9:30pm ON THE ROCKS Dahlia and

the Value Villains ORLANDO'S 1 Bands

perform every week; $10 RED PIANO BAR Hottest

dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players every Sat; 9pm2am SHERLOCK HOLMES– DOWNTOWN Andrew Scott

(alt/country); 9pm SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A Adam Holm (folk/

pop); 9pm SNEAKY PETE'S Sinder

Sparks K-DJ Show; 9pm-1am

Industrial - Goth - Dark

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

NORTH GLENORA HALL

Jam by Wild Rose Old Time Fiddlers every Thu; 7pm; contact Gary 780.998.4904 RED PIANO Every Thu: Dueling pianos at 8pm RIC’S GRILL Peter Belec

(jazz); most Thursdays; 7-10pm RICHARD'S PUB The

Big Daddy Thursday Jam hosted by Randy Forsberg; Every Thu; 7:30-11pm SMOKEHOUSE BBQ Live

Blues every Thur: rotating guests; 7-11pm TAVERN ON WHYTE Open

stage with Michael Gress (fr Self Evolution); every Thu; 9pm-2am

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Thu Main Fl: Throwback Thu: Rock&Roll, Funk, Soul, R&B and 80s with DJ Thomas Culture; jamz that will make your backbone slide; Wooftop: Dig It! Thursdays. Electronic, roots and rare groove with DJ's Rootbeard, Raebot, Wijit and guests

BLUES ON WHYTE Charlie

Jacobson; 9pm Flamenco Guitar Classes; Every Sun, 11:30am12:30pm DIVERSION LOUNGE Sun Night Live on the South Side: live bands; all ages; 7-10:30pm DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

Celtic Music with Duggan's House Band 5-8pm

ON THE ROCKS Six String Loaded, Nervous Flirts; 9pm; No cover

Open stage with One Percent (R&B/soul); 8pm every Thu

Ramblers

ROADHOUSE–Nisku Open mic every Sun hosted by Tim Lovett

Sun; 9:30pm-1am

KRUSH ULTRA LOUNGE

NEW WEST HOTEL Nash

BLACKJACK'S

O’BYRNE’S Open mic every

northlands.com

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24

open stage; 8pm; all ages (15+)

Sun BBQ jam hosted with the Marshall Lawrence Band; 4pm

NEWCASTLE PUB The Sunday Soul Service: acoustic open stage every Sun

J R BAR AND GRILL Live

NAKED CYBERCAFÉ Thu

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24

Jam Thu; 9pm

Fri DJ and dance floor; 9:30pm

SUN DEC 27

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Nights; no cover

BEER MARKET Thu and

Saturdays

with the Franklins (metal/ hard rock/punk); 9pm; Sold out

EARLY STAGE SALOON– Stony Plain Open Jam

MKT FRESH FOOD AND

Y AFTERHOURS Release

DV8 Concussion Sunday

Bar: Beach Party Jam hosted by the Barefoot Kings; Ukulele lessons 7:30pm followed by Jam at 8:30pm

Freight open jam with hosts: Rob Kaup, Leah Durelle

UNION HALL Celebrity Saturdays: every Sat hosted by DJ Johnny Infamous

DANCE CODE STUDIO

CORAL DE CUBA Beach

L.B.'S PUB South Bound

TAVERN ON WHYTE Soul, Motown, Funk, R&B and more with DJs Ben and Mitch; every Sat; 9pm-2am

pianos every Fri Night with Jared Sowan and Brittany Graling; 8pm

Electro with DJs the Gothfather and Zeio; 9pm; $5 (door); (every Sat except the 1st Sat of the month)

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE

BOURBON ROOM Live

BOURBON ROOM Dueling

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: The Menace

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Sat

Sessions: alt rock/ Electro/Trash with Miss Mannered; Wooftop: Sound It Up!: classic Hip-Hop, R&B and Reggae with DJ Sonny Grimez & instigate; Underdog: Alternating DJs

Open mic; 7pm; $2

THE BOWER For Those Who

MKT FRESH FOOD AND

CASINO EDMONTON Robin

Kelly (Elvis Tribute); 9pm

BEER MARKET Thu and

CASINO YELLOWHEAD

Know...: Deep House and disco with Junior Brown, David Stone, Austin, and guests; every Sat

Live music every Fri; all ages; 7pm; $5 (door) JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Fri DJ and dance floor; 9:30pm NEW WEST HOTEL Nash

Ramblers

Music every Sat Night with Jared Sowan and Brittany Graling; 8pm

Trace Jordan; 9pm CLINT'S HAUS Brawl V

Nek, High Tides, Cryptic, Florals, Pyramid/Indigo, The Olm, Meatforce, Virgins (rock/pop/indie); 8pm; $5 (or $3 with food bank donation); No minros

RED PIANO BAR Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players every Fri; 9pm2am

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

THE COMMON Get Down

ENCORE–WEM Every

Sat: Sound and Light show; We are Saturdays: Kindergarten

DV8 Boxing Day Bash with

the Franklins (metal/hard rock/punk); 9pm; Sold out

MERCER TAVERN DJ Mikey

Fridays: this week featuring; Each Fri, 8-10pm; $5 suggested donation

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Early:

THE PROVINCIAL PUB

Old school and new school hip hop & R&B with DJ Twist, Sonny Grimez, and Marlon English; every Fri THE COMMON Good

Free Afternoon Concerts: this week with Darryl Matthews, Garret Niven and El Niven; 4pm • Later: Tallest To Shortest, Red Hot Gospel and Nolan Bossert; 9pm; No cover GAS PUMP Saturday Homemade Jam: Mike Chenoweth

ROUGE LOUNGE Rouge Saturdays: global sound and Cosmopolitan Style Lounging with DJ Mkhai

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Interest (rock/pop/indie); 9pm; No minors

CENTURY ROOM Lucky 7: Retro '80s with house DJ every Thu; 7pm-close

Fridays: nu disco, hip hop, indie, electro, dance with weekly local and visiting DJs on rotation plus residents Echo and Justin Foosh DRUID IRISH PUB DJ

LEAF BAR AND GRILL

THE COMMON The

ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce

every Fri; 9pm

Wong every Sat Saturday Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJ Maurice

HILLTOP PUB Open Stage, Jam every Sat; 3:30-7pm

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24 LB'S PUB Persons of

Open Stage Sat–It's the Sat Jam hosted by Darren Bartlett, 5pm

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Soul Sundays: A

fantastic voyage through '60s and '70s funk, soul and R&B with DJ Zyppy

MON DEC 28

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Sat; 9pm

WILD EARTH BAKERY– MILLCREEK Live Music

THE BOWER Strictly Goods:

Christmas Fund Raising Concert; 6:30pm; $25

DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every

TIRAMISU BISTRO Live

Every Friday DJs on all three levels

HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH The Opus 36

Blue Mondays with Jimmy and the Sleepers; 8-11pm

music every Fri

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Classical

It's Saturday Night: House and disco and everything in between with resident Dane

Derina Harvey (celtic/folk/ rock); 9pm

DJs

RICHARD'S PUB Sunday Jam hosted by Mark Ammar; 4-8pm

RED STAR Indie rock, hip

hop, and electro every Sat with DJ Hot Philly and guests

SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

Your Famous Saturday with Crewshtopher, Tyler M SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM

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

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Main Floor: Blue Jay’s

Messy Nest: Mod, Brit Pop, New Wave & British Rock with DJ Blue Jay; Wooftop: Metal Mon: with Metal Phil (fr CJSR’s Heavy Metal Lunch Box) BLUES ON WHYTE Charlie

Jacobson; 9pm DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

Monday open mic JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24 MERCURY ROOM Music

Magic Monday Nights: Capital City Jammers, host Blueberry Norm; seasoned musicians; 7-10pm; $4 NEW WEST HOTEL Trick

Ryder PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Wild

Rose Old Tyme Fiddlers Association: Acoustic instrumental old time fiddle jam every Mon; hosted by the Wild Rose Old Tyme Fiddlers Society; 7pm; contact Vi 780.456.8510

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

MUSIC 23

ROUGE RESTO-LOUNGE

Open Mic Night with Darrek Anderson from the Guaranteed; every Mon; 9pm SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

Open Mic Night hosted by Adam Holm; Every Mon

DEC/31

FEAT. TAIKI NULIGHT, HUGLIFE, SPACE JESUS, FLAVOURS W/ LOCAL GUEST DJ’S

JAN/9 JAN/22 JAN/23

9910 Past to the Future at

45Rpm, Mat the Alien (DJ) and The Gaff; 9pm; $20

ENFORCER & WARBRINGER

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Tuesday Night Jam with host Harry Gregg and

THIEVERY COPORATION’S ROB GARZA W/ BETTER LIVING DJ’S, SWIM, DAN PEZIM

FEB/10

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

BILLY KENNY & WILL CLARKE TRIVIUM

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

JAN/1

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24

BRIXX Metal night every

BLUES ON WHYTE Sam

Spades; 9pm BRITTANY'S LOUNGE

Scrambled YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every Tue- Fri, 5-8pm DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Wed open mic with host Duff Robison JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Galactic Rock Comedy; 6:15pm; runs until Jan 24

Psychobilly, Hallowe'en horrorpunk, deathrock with Abigail Asphixia and Mr Cadaver; every Tue

Ryder

NEW WEST HOTEL Tue Country Dance Lessons: 7-9pm • With: Trick Ryder

WED DEC 30

ORIGINAL JOE'S VARSITY ROW Open mic Wed:

O’BYRNE’S Celtic jam

with Lyle Hobbs; 8-11pm, every Wed

Hosted by Jordan Strand; every Wed, 9-12 jordanfstrand@gmail.com / 780-655-8520

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

OVERTIME–Sherwood Park

Tuesday with Kris Harvey and guests

every Tue; with Shannon Johnson and friends; 9:30pm OVERTIME–Sherwood Park

Bingo Toonz every Tue ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE Live music

B STREET BAR Live Music

Wailin' Wednesdays Jam; Every Wed, 7:30pm; All ages BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Alt '80s and

music dancing every Tue,

'90s, Post Punk, New Wave, Garage, Brit, Mod, Rock and Roll witih LL Cool Joe and DJ Downtrodden on alternate Weds

23349 Wye Rd, Sherwood Park CARROT COFFEEHOUSE 9351118 Ave, 780.471.1580 CASINO EDMONTON 7055 Argylll Rd, 780.463.9467 CASINO YELLOWHEAD 12464153 St, 780.424 9467 CENTRAL SENIOR LIONS CENTRE 11113-113 St CENTURY CASINO 13103 Fort Rd, 780.643.4000 CHA ISLAND TEA CO 10332-81 Ave, 780.757.2482 COMMON 9910-109 St DARAVARA 10713 124 St, 587.520.4980 DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY 9013-88 Ave, 780.465.4834 DRUID 11606 Jasper Ave, 780.454.9928 DUSTER’S PUB 6402-118 Ave, 780.474.5554 DV8 8130 Gateway Blvd EARLY STAGE SALOON– Stony Plain 4911-52 Ave, Stony Plain, 780.963.5998 ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce Grove 121-1 Ave, Spruce Grove, 780.962.1411 ENCORE–WEM 2687, 8882-170 St FESTIVAL PLACE 100 Festival Way, Sherwood Park, 780.449.3378

FILTHY MCNASTY’S 10511-82 Ave, 780.916.1557 HILLTOP PUB 8220 106 Ave IRISH SPORTS CLUB 12546-126 St, 780.453.2249 J AND R 4003-106 St, 780.436.4403 JAVA XPRESS 110, 4300 South Park Dr, Stony Plain, 780.968.1860 KELLY'S PUB 10156-104 St L.B.’S PUB 23 Akins Dr, St Albert, 780.460.9100 LEAF BAR AND GRILL 9016-132 Ave, 780.757.2121 MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET 8101 Gateway Blvd, 780.439.2337 MERCER TAVERN 10363 104 St, 587.521.1911 MERCURY ROOM 10575-114 St NAKED CYBERCAFÉ 10303-108 St, 780.425.9730 NEWCASTLE PUB 8170-50 St, 780.490.1999 NEW WEST HOTEL 15025-111 Ave NOORISH CAFÉ 8440-109 St NORTH GLENORA HALL 13535109A Ave O2'S–West 11066-156 St, 780.448.2255 O’BYRNE’S 10616-82 Ave, 780.414.6766

with the Icehouse Band and weekly guests; Every Tue, 9pm SANDS HOTEL Country

NEW WEST HOTEL Trick

Jason Greeley (acoustic rock, country, Top 40); 9pm-2am every Wed; no cover PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic

$2 (member)/$4 (nonmember) RED PIANO BAR Wed Night Live: hosted by dueling piano players; 8pm-1am; $5 ROSSDALE HALL Little Flower Open Stage with Brian Gregg; 7:30pm (door); no cover ZEN LOUNGE Jazz Wednesdays: Kori Wray and Jeff Hendrick; every Wed; 7:30-10pm; no cover

DJs BILLIARD CLUB Why wait

Wednesdays: Wed night party with DJ Alize every Wed; no cover BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Alt '80s and

'90s, Post Punk, New Wave, Garage, Brit, Mod, Rock and Roll witih LL Cool Joe and DJ Downtrodden on alternate Weds BRIXX BAR Eats and Beats THE COMMON The Wed

Experience: Classics on Vinyl with Dane

Bluegrass jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society; every Wed, 6:30-11pm;

RED STAR Guest DJs every

ORIGINAL JOE'S VARSITY ROW 8404-109 St ORLANDO'S 1 15163-121 St O'MAILLES IRISH PUB 104, 398 St Albert Rd, St Albert ON THE ROCKS 11730 Jasper Ave, 780.482.4767 OVERTIME–Sherwood Park 100 Granada Blvd, Sherwood Park, 790.570.5588 PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL 10860-57 Ave THE PROVINCIAL PUB 160, 4211-106 St RED PIANO BAR 1638 Bourbon St, WEM, 8882-170 St, 780.486.7722 RED STAR 10538 Jasper Ave, 780.428.0825 RENDEZVOUS 10108-149 St RICHARD'S PUB 12150-161 Ave, 780.457.3118 RIC’S GRILL 24 Perron Street, St Albert, 780.460.6602 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE 10516 Jasper Ave, 780.424.3836 ROSEBOWL/ROUGE LOUNGE 10111-117 St, 780.482.5253 ROSE AND CROWN 10235-101 St SANDS HOTEL 12340 Fort Rd, 780.474.5476 SIDELINERS PUB 11018-127 St SMOKEHOUSE BBQ 10810-124

St, 587.521.6328 SNEAKY PETE'S 12315-118 Ave SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE 1292397 St, 780.758.5924 STARLITE ROOM 10030-102 St, 780.428.1099 STUDIO MUSIC FOUNDATION 10940-166 A St SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM 10545-81 Ave TAVERN ON WHYTE 10507-82 Ave, 780.521.4404 TIRAMISU 10750-124 St UPTOWN FOLK CLUB 7308-76 Ave, 780.436.1554 VEE LOUNGE, APEX CASINO–St Albert 24 Boudreau Rd, St Albert, 780.460.8092, 780.590.1128 WILD EARTH BAKERY– MILLCREEK 8902-99 St, wildearthbakery.com WINSPEAR CENTRE 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square; 780.28.1414 Y AFTERHOURS 10028-102 St, 780.994.3256, yafterhours.com YARDBIRD SUITE 11 Tommy Banks Way, 780.432.0428 YEG DANCE CLUB 11845 Wayne Gretzky Dr YESTERDAYS PUB 112, 205 Carnegie Dr, St Albert, 780.459.0295 ZEN LOUNGE 12923-97 St

Wed

VENUEGUIDE

THE MOOD MACHINE PRESENTS

UBK, NIGHT VISION, AND DIRTYBIRD PRESENT

MERCER TAVERN Alt

TUE DEC 29

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

FEB/5

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Open Jam: Trevor Mullen

Hip hop with DJ Creeazn every Mon; 9pm-2am

W/ CAULDRON & EXMORTUS

JAN/29

DV8 Creepy Tombsday:

TAVERN ON WHYTE Classic

W/ FUNKANOMICS & MARTEN HORGER

JAN/28

DJs

LEAF BAR AND GRILL Tue

Roots industrial,Classic Punk, Rock, Electronic with Hair of the Dave

FORT KNOX 5

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Tue

DV8 T.F.W.O. Mondays:

UBK PRESENTS CELEBRATION OF FUNK

Stage Tue: featuring this week: Lucas Chaisson; 9pm

DJs

Night Open stage with Darrell Barr; 7-11pm

Messy Nest: mod, brit pop, new wave, British rock with DJ Blue Jay

ALBUM RELEASE W/ GUESTS

Jacobson; 9pm DRUID IRISH PUB Open

featuring Country Music Legend Bev Munro every Tue, 8-11pm

L.B.'S PUB Tue Variety

Main Floor: Blue Jay’s

LANDMARK EVENTS SHOWCASE STRIKER

BLUES ON WHYTE Charlie

Main Floor: Brit Pop, Synthpop, Alternative 90’s, Glam Rock with DJ Chris Bruce; Wooftop: Substance: alt retro and not-so-retro electronic and dance with Eddie LunchPail

SIDELINERS PUB Singer/ Songwriter Monday Night Open Stage; Hosted

by Celeigh Cardinal; Every Mon (except long weekends), 8:3011:30pm; Free

UBK NYE 2015

Geoffrey O'Brien; 8-11pm

9910 9910B-109 St ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE 8223-104 St, 780.431.0179 ALE YARD TAP 13310-137 Ave "B" STREET BAR 11818-111 St BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Yellowhead Inn, 15004 Yellowhead Trail BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 1042582 Ave, 780.439.1082 BLACKJACK'S ROADHOUSE– Nisku 2110 Sparrow Dr, Nisku, 780.955.2336 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ 9624-76 Ave, 780.989.2861 BLUES ON WHYTE 10329-82 Ave, 780.439.3981 BOHEMIA 10217-97 St BOURBON ROOM 205 Carnegie Dr, St Albert THE BOWER 10538 Jasper Ave, 780.423.425; info@thebower.ca BRITTANY'S LOUNGE 10225-97 St, 780.497.0011 BRIXX BAR 10030-102 St (downstairs), 780.428.1099 THE BUCKINGHAM 10439 82 Ave, 780.761.1002, thebuckingham.ca CAFÉ HAVEN 9 Sioux Rd, Sherwood Park, 780.417.5523, cafehaven.ca CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK 99,

DZEJ I RULE

REPRIZA NOVE GODINE W/ DŽEJ RAMADANOVSKI

JAN/2

EDMONTON POTTERWATCH INSTITUTE FOR CHARITY

THE EPIC BASH W/ AMY VOYER

JAN/9

ZUK TIL YOU PUKE

MINSTRELS ON SPEED W/ NIGHT COMMITTEE (CALGARY), COUNTERFEIT JEANS AND WARES

FEB/5

JCL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

FEB/6

VOODO CHILDREN PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR

SPARROW BLUE

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

ALSO AVAILABLE ONLINE VUEWEEKLY.COM/MUSIC/EVENTS/

24 MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

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

COMEDY Black Dog Freehouse • Underdog Comedy show: Alternating hosts • Every Thu, 8-11pm • No cover Century Casino • 13103 Fort Rd • 780.481.9857 • Open Mic Night: Every Thu; 7:30-9pm

COMEDY FACTORY • Gateway Entertainment Centre, 34 Ave, Calgary Tr • Fri-Sat: 8:30pm • Sean Baptiste; Jan 1-2 • Paul Sveen; Jan 8-9 • Tom Liske; Jan 14-16

Comic Strip • Bourbon St, WEM • 780.483.5999 • Wed-Fri, Sun 7:30pm; FriSat 9:45pm • Battle to the Funny Bone; every Mon at 7:30pm • Triple Threat Tuesday; every Tue at 7:30pm • Mike Dambra; Dec 23, Dec 26-27 • Michael Malone; Dec 30 • New Years Eve Shows; Dec 31 • Michael Malone; Jan 1-3

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

Rouge Lounge • 10111-117 St • Comedy Groove every Wed; 9pm

Groups/CLUBS/meetings Aikikai Aikido Club • 10139-87 Ave, Old Strathcona Community League • Japanese Martial Art of Aikido • Every Tue 7:30-9:30pm; Thu 6-8pm

Amnesty International Edmonton • 8307-109 St • edmontonamnesty. org • Meet the 4th Tue each month, 7:30pm (no meetings in Jul, Aug) E: amnesty@ edmontonamnesty.org for more info • Free

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

Babes In Arms • The Carrot, 9351-118 Ave • A casual parent group • Every Fri, 10am-12pm

Brain Tumour Peer Support Group • Mount Zion Lutheran Church,

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

Canadian Injured Workers Association of Alberta (CIWAA) • Augustana Lutheran Church, 107 St, 99 Ave • canadianinjuredworkers.com • Meeting every 3rd Sat, 1-4pm • Injured Workers in Pursuit of Justice denied by WCB

Edmonton Atheists • Stanley Milner Library, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • Monthly roundtable discussion group. Topics change each month, please check the website for details, edmontonatheists.ca • 1st Tue, 7pm; each month

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

EDMONTON OUTDOOR CLUB (EOC) • edmontonoutdoorclub.com • Offering a variety of fun activities in and around Edmonton • Free to join; info at info@ edmontonoutdoorclub.com

Edmonton Photographic Historial Society • Call for location • 780.436.3878 • Gather and marvel over the latest finds in photography, discussions, and much more. This month features a dinner meeting with an under $10 gift exchange • 3rd Wed each month, call for time

Edmonton Ukulele Circle • Bogani Café, 2023-111 St • 780.440.3528 • 3rd Sun each month; 2:30-4pm • $5 FOOD ADDICTS • Alano Club (& Simply Done Cafe), 17028-124 St • 780.718.7133 (or 403.506.4695 after 7pm) • Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA), free 12-Step recovery program for anyone suffering from food obsession, overeating, under-eating, and bulimia • Meetings every Thu, 7pm Fort Saskatchewan 45+ Singles Coffee Group • A&W, 10101-88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan • 780.907.0201 (Brenda) • A mixed group, all for conversation and friendship • Every Sun, 2pm

Sugar Foot Ballroom • 10545-81

Bisexual Women's Coffee Group

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

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

• A social group for bi-curious and bisexual women every 2nd Tue each month, 8pm • groups.yahoo.com/group/bwedmonton

TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY (TOPS)

Evolution Wonderlounge • 10220-

• Grace United Church annex, 6215-104 Ave • Low-cost, fun and friendly weight loss group • Every Mon, 6:30pm • Info: call Bob 780.479.5519

Toastmasters

• Club Bilingue Toastmasters Meetings:

Campus St. Jean: Pavillion McMahon; 780.667.6105 (Willard); clubbilingue. toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 7pm • Fabulous Facilitators Toastmasters Club:

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

Lotus Qigong • 780.477.0683 • Downtown • Practice group meets every Thu

MADELEINE SANAM FOUNDATION • Faculté St Jean, Rm 3-18 • 780.490.7332 • madeleine-sanam.orgs/en • Program for HIV-AID’S prevention, treatment and harm reduction in French, English and other African languages • 3rd and 4th Sat, 9am-5pm each month • Free (member)/$10 (membership); pre-register

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

Organization for Bipolar Affective Disorder (OBAD) • Grey Nuns Hospital, Rm 0651, obad@shaw.ca; Group meets every Thu, 7-9pm • Free

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

sAWA 12-STEP SUPPORT GROUP • Braeside Presbyterian Church bsmt, N. door, 6 Bernard Dr, St Albert • For adult children of alcoholic and dysfunctional families • Every Mon, 7:30pm Schizophrenia Society Family Support Drop-in Group • Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, 5215-87 St • schizophrenia.ab.ca • The Schizophrenia Society of Alberta-Edmonton branch provides a facilitated family support group for caregivers of a loved one living with schizophrenia. Free drop-in the 1st and 3rd Thu each month, 7-9pm

Sensational Ladies Night • Warp 1 Comics & Games, 9917-82 Ave • 780.433.7119 • facebook.com/sensational. ladies.night • A night dedicated to women indulging in various geekeries with other women once a month in a friendly and safe environment. Featuring a book club, board game nights, art jam and much more. No prior geekery knowledge required • 3rd Wed of every month, 6-8pm • Free

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

Sherwood Park Walking Group + 50 • Meet inside Millennium Place, Sherwood Place • Weekly outdoor walking group; starts with a 10-min discussion, followed by a 30 to 40-min walk through Centennial Park, a cool down and stretch • Every Tue, 8:30am • $2/session (goes to the Alzheimer’s Society of Alberta)

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

2nd Fl, Canada Place Rm 217, 9700 Jasper Ave; Carisa: divdgov2014_15@outlook. com, 780.439.3852; fabulousfacilitators. toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 12:05-1pm • N'Orators Toastmasters Club: Lower Level, McClure United Church, 13708-74 St: meet every Thu, 6:45-8:30pm; contact bradscherger@hotmail.com, 780.863.1962, norators.com • Terrified of Public Speaking: Norwood Legion Edmonton, 11150-82 St NW; Every Thu until 7:30-9:30pm; Free; contact jnwafula@ yahoo.com; norwoodtoastmasters.org • Upward Bound Toastmaster Club: Rm 7, 6 Fl, Edmonton Public Library–DT: Meets every Wed, 7-8:45pm; Sep-May; upward. toastmastersclubs.org; reader1@shaw.ca • Y Toastmasters Club: Queen Alexandra Community League, 10425 University Ave (N door, stairs to the left); Meet every Tue, 7-9pm except last Tue ea month; Contact: Antonio Balce, 780.463.5331

WEDNESDAY NITE Faith Focus • First Presbyterian Church, 10025-105 St • 780.422.2937 • firstpresbyterian.ca • fpc@ telus.net • Continuing in-depth examination of the action-packed ‘Acts of the Apostles’ • Every Wed until Nov, 6:30-8pm

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

Wild Rose Antique Collectors Society • Delwood Community Hall, 7515 Delwood Rd • wildroseantiquecollectors. ca • Collecting and researching items from various periods in the history of Edmonton.

Presentations after club business. Visitors welcome • Meets the 4th Mon of every month (except Jul & Dec), 7:30pm

WOMEN IN BLACK • In Front of the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market • Silent vigil the 1st and 3rd Sat, 10-11am, each month, stand in silence for a world without violence LECTURES/Presentations Fertility Awareness Charting Circle • Remedy Cafe, 8631-109 St • faccedmonton@gmail.com • fertilityawarenesschartingcircle.org • First Mon each month (Oct-May), 6:30-8:30pm • $10 (suggested donation) • RSVP at faccedmonton@ gmail.com

GREAT EXPEDITIONS TRAVEL SLIDE • St. Luke’s Anglican Church, 8424-95 Ave • 780.469.3270 (Gerry)/ 780.435.6406 (John)/ 780.454.6216 (Sylvia) • Guatemala (1995) – by Art Breier (Jan 4)

Seeing is above All • Acacia Hall, 10433-83 Ave, upstairs • 780.554.6133 • Free instruction in meditation on the Inner Light • Every Sun, 5pm

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

QUEER Beers for Queers • Empress Ale House, 9912 Whyte Ave • Meet the last Thu each month

EPLC Fellowship Pagan Study Group • Pride Centre of Edmonton, 10608-105 Ave • 780.488.3234 • eplc. webs.com • Free year long course; Family circle 3rd Sat each month • Everyone welcome 103 St • 780.424.0077 • yourgaybar.com • Community Tue: partner with various local GLBT groups for different events; see online for details • Happy Hour Wed-Fri: 4-8pm • Wed Karaoke: with the Mystery Song Contest; 7pm-2am • Fri: DJ Evictor • Sat: DJ Jazzy • Sun: Beer Bash

G.L.B.T.Q Seniors Group • S.A.G.E Bldg, Craftroom, 15 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.474.8240 • Meeting for gay seniors, and for any seniors who have gay family members and would like some guidance • Every Thu, 1-4pm • Info: E: Tuff69@telus. net

Illusions Social Club • Pride Centre, 10608-105 Ave • 780.387.3343 • edmontonillusions.ca • Crossdressers meet 2nd Fri each month, 7:30-9pm INSIDE/OUT • U of A Campus • Campusbased organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified and queer (LGBTQ) faculty, graduate student, academic, straight allies and support staff • 3rd Thu each month (fall/winter terms): Speakers Series. E: kwells@ualberta.ca LIVING POSITIVE • #33, 9912-106 St • 780.424.2214 • livingpositivethroughpositiveliving.com • In office peer counseling, public speakers available for presentations, advocacy and resource materials available • Support group for gay men living with HIV: 2nd Mon each month, 7-9pm

Pride Centre of Edmonton • Pride Centre of Edmonton, 10608-105 Ave • 780.488.3234 • A safe, welcoming, and non-judgemental drop-in space, support programs and resources offered for members of the GLBTQ community, their families and friends • Daily: Community drop-in; support and resources. Queer library: borrowing privileges: Tue-Fri 12-9pm, Sat 2-6:30pm, closed Sun-Mon; Queer HangOUT (a.k.a. QH) youth drop-in: Tue-Fri 3-8pm, Sat 2-6:30pm, youth@pridecentreofedmonton. org • Counselling: Free, short-term by registered counsellors every Wed, 5:30-8:30pm, info/bookings: 780.488.3234 • Knotty Knitters: Knit and socialize in safe, accepting environment, all skill levels welcome; every Wed 6-8pm • QH Game Night: Meet people through board game fun; every Thu 6-8pm • QH Craft Night: every Wed, 6-8pm • QH Anime Night: Watch anime; every Fri, 6-8pm • Movie Night: Open to everyone; 2nd and 4th Fri each month, 6-9pm • Women’s Social Circle: Social support group for female-identified persons +18 years in the GLBT community; new members welcome; 2nd and 4th Thu, 7-9pm each month; andrea@pridecentreofedmonton.org • Men Talking with Pride: Support and social group for gay and bisexual men; every Sun 7-9pm; robwells780@hotmail.com • TTIQ: a support and information group for all those who fall under the transgender umbrella and their family/supporters; 3rd Mon, 7-9pm, each month • HIV Support Group: Support and discussion group for gay men; 2nd Mon, 7-9pm, each month; huges@shaw.ca

St Paul's United Church • 1152676 Ave • 780.436.1555 • People of all sexual orientations are welcome • Every Sun (10am worship)

Team Edmonton • Various sports and recreation activities • All-Bodies Swim: Bonnie Doon Leisure Centre, 8648-81 St NW; pridecentreofedmonton.org; Every 3rd Sat of the month, 9:30-10:30pm • Badminton: Oliver School, 10227-118 St; badminton@teamedmonton.ca; Every Wed (until Feb 24); $5 (drop-in) • Board Game Group: Underground Tap & Grill, 10004 Jasper Ave; Monthly on a Sun, 3-7pm; RSVP to boardgames@teamedmonton. ca • Bootcamp: Oliver Community Hall, 10326-118 St; bootcamp@teamedmonton. ca; Every Thu, 7pm; $30 (full season), $15 (low income or students) • Equal, Fit, Fierce,

VUEWEEKLY.com | dec 24 – dec 30, 2015

and Fabulous: Pride Centre, 10608-105 Ave; pridecentreofedmonton.org/calendar; Drop in games and activities for youth; Every other Tue, 4:30-6pm

WOMONSPACE • 780.482.1794 • womonspace.org, womonspace@gmail.com • A Non-profit lesbian social organization for Edmonton and surrounding area.

Monthly activities, newsletter, reduced rates included with membership. Confidentiality assured

Woodys Video Bar • 11723 Jasper Ave • 780.488.6557 • Sun: Last Sun each month, Woodys Jam Session with the talented regular customers; Jugs of Canadian or Kokanee only $13 • Mon: Massive Mondays features talented comedians • Tue: Domestic bottle beer special only $3.75 all night long • Wed: Jugs of Canadian and Kokanee for $13; Karaoke with Shirley from 7pm-12:30am • Thu: Highballs on special only $3.75 all night long; Karaoke with Bubbles 7pm-12:30am • Fri: Comming soon: DJ Arrow Chaser's new TGIF Party • Sat: Pool Tournement, 4pm; Jager shots on special only $4; Coming soon, DJ Jazzy SPECIAL EVENTS 9th Annual Deep Freeze Byzantine Winter Festival • Various venues throughout Edmonton • deepfreezefest. ca • Uniting Ukrainian, Franco-Albertan, Franco-African, First Nations, Chinese and Acadian/East Coast communities to taste, share and experience the Olde New Year • Jan 9-10 • Free, donations accepted

Candy Cane Lane • 148 St, between 92 and 100 Ave • candycanelane.travgraphics.com • Walk and see how the community gets their Christmas on, or take in a sleigh ride • Dec 12-Jan 2, 5-11pm • Free (donations for the Food Bank accepted)

Celebrate the Season • Alberta Legislature Grounds • assembly.ab.ca • Get in the Christmas spirit with the many Christmas lights that surround the grounds.

Includes choir performances and much more • Through Dec

Christmas Reflections • Fort Edmonton Park, 7000-143 St • Take a leap back in time and see how people hosted each other during the Christmas season, what they did for recreation and so much more • Dec 11-30

DeepSoul.ca • 587.520.3833; call or text for Sunday jam locations • Every Sun: Sunday Jams with no Stan (CCR to Metallica), starring Chuck Prins on Les Paul Standard guitars; Pink Floydish originals plus great Covers of Classics: some FREE; Twilight Zone Lively Up Yourself Tour (with DJ Cool Breeze); all ages

Frostival: Hot Chestnut Roasting • Italian Grocery Centre, 10878-95 St • Taste what winter is with hot chestnuts roasting • Every Sat-Sun, 11am-2pm (until Christmas)

Malanka: Ukrainian New Year Celebration • Ukrainian Centre, 1101897 St • 780.434.1690 • judy.lederer@hotmail.com • Featuring a huge Ukrainian feast featuring roast turkey, meatballs, perogies, cabbage rolls, and more. A traditional Floor Show of dancing, music and pageant will also be presented • Jan 16, 5:30pm • $45 (dinner, floor show & dance), $20 (dance only); Attendance by invitation only

Nerd Nite #24 • The Club at the Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Ave • Featuring the topics such as: Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Narrative: On Reading and the Virtues of Constant Vigilance, Going nuts over girls: how chasing tail influences ageing, Smoke and Mirrors: Unveiling Invisibility • Jan 14, 7:30pm (doors), 8pm (show) • $20 (adv), $25 (door) • 18+ only Scrambled YEG • Brittany's Lounge, 10225-97 St • 780.497.0011 • Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every Tue-Fri, 5-8pm Wild Things in Winter • John Janzen Nature Centre, 7000-143 St • 311 • edmonton.ca • Enjoy the winter cold! Events include snowshoeing, winterscaping and much more • Sat-Sun through Dec

at the back 25

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

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NEW YEARS DAY Antique Collector Auction! 11 a.m., Friday, January 1, Wainwright Legion, 1030 - 2 Ave., Wainwright, Alberta. Scribner Auction 780-842-5666; www. scribnernet.com. Unreserved & No Buyer’s Fee! Career Training MEDICAL TRAINEES needed now! Hospitals & doctor’s offices need certified medical office & administrative staff!

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•• equipment •• for sale A-CHEAP, lowest prices, steel shipping containers. Used 20’ & 40’ Seacans insulated & 40’ freezers, Special $2200. Wanted: Professional wood carvers needed. 1-866-528-7108; www. rtccontainer.com.

•• for sale •• METAL ROOFING & SIDING. 32+ colours available at over 55 Distributors. 40 year warranty. 48 hour Express Service available at select supporting Distributors.

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•• health •• CANADA BENEFIT GROUP Do you or someone you know suffer from a disability? Get up to $40,000 from the Canadian Government. Toll-free 1-888511-2250 or www.canadabenefit.ca/free-assessment

•• employment •• opportunities

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Come join a dynamic, fast-paced and growing company looking for enthusiastic Account Managers. We are a place where we want our employees to grow, feel inspired and use their strongest assets to propel their work.

WATKIN MOTORS FORD, Vernon, BC, immediately requires an experienced Ford Diesel Technician. Go to watkinmotors. com About us, Employment, to apply and review required qualifications.

HARVEST SALE! Save $50,000 from the replacement cost of this 20 X 76 drywalled Grandeur Showhome that has to go!

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COME AND LEARN. Unlock your Superpowers! Jan. 29 & 30, 2016, Edmonton. AWNA’s Annual Symposium. Educational Sessions in Journalism, Sales Ad & News Design.

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•• real estate •• PASTURE & HAY LAND. 400 8000 acres of year round water supply. Full operational with management available. Central Saskatchewan. Crossfenced & complete infrastructure. Natural springs excellent water. Shortly ready to locate cattle. Other small & large grain & pasture quarters. $150k - $2.6m. Call Doug Rue 306-716-2671; saskfarms@shaw.ca.

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FREEWILLASTROLOGY ARIES (MAR 21 – APR 19): The raw materials you have at your disposal in 2016 may sometimes seem limited. You might not have access to all the tools you wish you did. You could be tempted to feel envy about the vaster resources other people can draw on.

But I honestly don't think these apparent inhibitions will put you at a disadvantage. Within your smaller range of options, there will be all the possibilities you need. In fact, the constraints could stimulate your creativity in ways that would have never occurred if you'd had more options.

TAURUS (APR 20 – MAY 20): You know what physical hygiene is.

But are you familiar with imaginal hygiene? Educator Morgan Brent defines it like this: "imaginal hygiene is the inner art of self-managing the imagination, to defend it from forces that compromise, pollute, colonize, shrink and sterilize it, and to cultivate those that illuminate, expand and nourish it." It's always important for everyone to attend to this work, but it's especially crucial for you to focus on it in 2016. You will be exceptionally creative, and therefore likely to generate long-lasting effects and influences out of the raw materials that occupy your imagination.

GEMINI (MAY 21 – JUN 20): Your mind sometimes works too hard and fast for your own good. But mostly it's your best asset. Your versatility can sometimes be a curse, too, but far more often it's a blessing. Your agile tongue and flexible agenda generate more fun than trouble, and so do your smooth manoeuvres and skillful gamesmanship. As wonderful as all these qualities can be, however, I suggest that you work on expanding your scope in 2016. In my astrological opinion, it will be a good time for you to study and embody the magic that the water signs possess. What would that mean exactly? Start this way: give greater respect to your feelings.

Tune in to them more, encourage them to deepen, and figure out how to trust them as sources of wisdom.

CANCER (JUN 21 – JUL 22): Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman won three Academy Awards and was nominated for eight others. Numerous filmmakers have cited him as an important influence on their work. His practical success was rooted in his devotion to the imagination. "I am living permanently in my dream, from which I make brief forays into reality," he said. Can you guess his astrological sign? Cancer the Crab, of course! No other tribe is better suited at moving back and forth between the two worlds. At least potentially, you are virtuosos at interweaving fantasy with earthy concerns. The coming year will afford you unprecedented opportunities to further develop and use this skill.

ROB BREZSNY FREEWILL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

LEO (JUL 23 – AUG 22): Avoid pain and pursue pleasure. Be kind, not cruel. Abstain from self-pity and ask for the help you need.

Instead of complaining, express gratitude. Dodge time-wasting activities and do things that are meaningful to you. Shun people who disrespect you and seek the company of those who enjoy you.

Don't expose yourself to sickening, violent entertainment; fill your imagination up with uplifting stories. Does the advice I'm offering in this horoscope seem overly simple and obvious? That's no accident. In my opinion, what you need most in 2016 is to refresh your relationship with fundamental principles.

VIRGO (AUG 23 – SEP 22): Many of the atoms that compose your flesh and blood were not part of your body 12 months ago. That's because every year, 98 percent of you is replaced. Old cells are constantly dying, giving way to new cells that are made from the air, food and water you ingest.

This is true about everyone, of course. You're not the only one whose physical form is regularly recycled. But here's what will be unique about you in 2016: your soul will match your body's rapid transformations. In fact, the turnover is already underway. By your next birthday, you may be so new you'll barely recognize yourself. I urge you to take full charge of this opportunity! Who do you want to become?

LIBRA (SEP 23 – OCT 22): The English word "ain't" can mean "am not," "is not," "are not" or "have not." But it ain't recognized as a standard word in the language. If you use it, you risk being thought vulgar and uneducated. And yet "ain't" has been around since 1706, more than 300 years. Most words that are used for so long eventually become official. I see your journey in 2016 as having resemblances to the saga of "ain't," Libra. You will meet resistance as you seek greater acceptance of some nonstandard but regular part of your life. Here's the good news: Your chances of ultimately succeeding are much better than ain't's.

SCORPIO (OCT 23 – NOV 21): My old friend John owns a 520acre farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Blueberries are among the crops he grows. If he arranges their growing season so that they ripen in July, he can sell them for $1.75 a pint. But if he designs them to be ready for harvest in late summer and early fall, the price he gets may go up to $4 a pint.

You can guess which schedule he prefers. I urge you to employ a similar strategy as you plot your game plan for 2016, Scorpio. Timing may not be everything, but it will count for a lot.

JONESIN' CROSSWORD

"Let Freestyle Reign" —who needs a theme?

SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 – DEC 21): In 1803, the US government bought a huge chunk of North American land from the French government. At a price of three cents per acre, the new republic doubled its size, acquiring what's now Louisiana and Montana and everything between. I don't think you'll add that much to your domain in 2016, Sagittarius, but it's likely you will expand significantly. And although your new resources won't be as cheap as the 1803 bargain, I suspect the cost, both in terms of actual cash and emotional energy, will be manageable. There's one way your acquisition will be better than that earlier one. The Americans bought and the French sold land they didn't actually own—it belonged to the native people—whereas your moves will have full integrity.

CAPRICORN (DEC 22 – JAN 19): The coming year will be a favourable time for you to nourish a deeper devotion to truth, beauty and goodness. Anything you do to make your morality more rigorous will generate benefits that ripple through your life for years to come. Curiously, you can add to the propitious effect by also cultivating a deeper devotion to fun, play and pleasure. There is a symbiotic connection between the part of you that wants to make the world a better place and the part of you that thrives on joy, freedom and wonder. Here's the magic formula: feed your lust for life by being intensely compassionate, and vice versa.

AQUARIUS (JAN 20 – FEB 18): I predict that 2016 will be your Year of Fruitful Obsessions. In giving this positive spin to the cosmic tendencies, I'm hoping to steer you away from any behaviour that might lead to 2016 being your Year of Fruitless Obsessions.

One way or another, I think you'll be driven to express your passions with single-minded intensity.

Focused devotion—sometimes verging on compulsive preoccupation—is likely to be one of your signature qualities. That's why it's so important to avoid wasteful infatuations and confounding manias. Please choose fascinations that are really good for you.

PISCES (FEB 19 – MAR 20): Your symbol of power in 2016 will be the equal sign: =. Visualize it in your mind's eye every morning for 20 seconds. Tattoo it on your butt.

Write it on an index card that you keep under your pillow or on your bathroom mirror. Gestures like these will deliver highly relevant messages to your subconscious mind, like, "Create balance and cultivate harmony!" and "Coordinate opposing forces!" and "Wherever there is tension between two extremes, convert the tension into vital energy!" Here are your words of power in 2016: "symbiosis" and "synergy."V

MATT JONES JONESINCROSSWORDS@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Across

1 Cap and gown wearer 9 Ticket ___ 14 Spying, as at a window 15 Sweet stuff 16 The Notorious B.I.G., for one 18 Team-building exercise?

19 Nastase of tennis 20 Be a bigmouth magician 27 It flows to the Baltic Sea 28 Words preceding "where the buffalo roam" 29 Regarding 30 Way off 33 Org. that uses the pattern XXXXX-XXXX 36 Morphine alternative 37 Abbr. in Albany 38 It turns green in mid-March 41 Uncanny glow 42 Having wings (anagram of EAT AL) 43 When sold separately 47 Scorsese, Soderbergh or Shyamalan 50 Magazine founder Eric 51 "___ are exactly alike" 52 Forbidden 58 "Portlandia" executive producer Michaels 59 Pen pals?

60 Spiral-horned antelope 61 They end "time" and "date"

Down

1 Targeted (towards) 2 Make sure you won't lose a file 3 Johnny Carson character who used crazy road maps 4 Formal pronouncements 5 Its deck has 108 cards 6 Turkish title 7 Opposite of 'tain't 8 Allergy specialist, perhaps 9 Sedimentary rock 10 Of interest 11 Crimethink offender flushed down the memory hole 12 Spelling competition 13 Mideast nat.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

14 "Napoleon Dynamite" role 17 Surpassed 21 They may have innings past midnight 22 Anderson Cooper once hosted it 23 Irritation for a web surfer 24 Retired professors 25 Online DIY store 26 Ten below?

31 Harem quarters (hidden in SODA WATER) 32 A.L. Central team, on scoreboards 33 Line crosser 34 Feng ___ 35 Flying force 39 Mos Eisley saloon 40 2008 TV movie with Laura Dern as Katherine Harris 44 Churchill successor 45 Shrinks 46 Bill and George's competitor, in 1992 48 Extension of the main building 49 "The Smartest Guys in the Room" company 52 Carte start 53 2003 and 2007 role for Morgan Freeman 54 Rolls out a prank?

55 Prefix with centennial 56 Sec. of State nickname 57 -speak ©2015 Jonesin' Crosswords

AT THE BACK 27

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10219-112 St. • 780-244-3532 • Open 8:30am-11pm Discreet backdoor entrance with free parking at rear of the store.

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PHONE 587.317.5905 for Ginger

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• #1 Spa in Edmonton • 15 New Ladies Mon–Fri 9:30am to 11pm Sat–Sun 10am to 11pm 780.453.5683(LOVE) 15003A 118 Avenue angelsspa@hotmail.ca www.angels-spa.ca @angelsspa1

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LUSTFORLIFE

BRENDA KERBER BRENDA@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Swing in the New Year

Happy Parties are safe and consensual places for swingers to meet If you're looking for a new and exciting way to ring in 2016, how about a Happy Party?

"Happy Parties is run by swingers, for swingers. We put on five to six parties a year, and our goal is to offer the community a way to connect and be a bit, or a lot, daring!" writes Heather (last name withheld), the event planner, in an email.

What happens at one of these events? It's an entire hotel takeover: just a bunch of swingers, a few hotel staff and an entire night of fun. The New Year's Eve Happy Party has a black-and-white masquerade theme and will feature chances to mingle and meet new people, contests and games, dancing and playrooms for

the more adventurous, including a dark room and a BDSM room. Attendees may choose to book their own room for the night so they don't have to worry about getting home and can continue the fun there when the main party's over.

In spite of the fact that Edmonton has large swinger and kink communities, the city still has an outward reputation for being very socially conservative. When alternative forms of sexuality are a big part of your life and personality, it can be difficult to find social outlets where it's acceptable to talk about and express that. Events like this are places where people can be open about their sexual interests and values

without fear of judgment.

"Couples come to our hotel parties to express their sexuality," Heather writes. "What that means is up to each individual or each couple. Sexy outfits, nudity, exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishes—Happy Parties is a place to explore in a consensual and friendly environment."

Sex is just one part of the party, though. A party like this is a chance to develop a like-minded circle of friends—whether or not you ever have sex with them. Heather says that the biggest misconception about swinging is that it's only about sex, or that swingers will have sex with anyone.

"There has to be a physical and sometimes mental attraction to the other couple," she explains.

"It's looked at the same way if it was a single person going out on a 'normal' date—just because you are having supper, drinks or whatever does not mean you are going to sleep with the person you are with. [A lot of] people are looking to make friends first and playmates second."

Another misconception about swinging is that it's just an excuse to cheat on your partner. Swinging is actually about partners exploring their sexuality and sharing experiences together. Swinging and cheating, Heather says, are completely dif-

ferent: "People in the lifestyle have a very low tolerance for cheating."

In order to protect everyone's privacy and to keep the event as safe and secure as possible, the location of the party is given only to people who have purchased tickets. If it sounds like your kind of New Year's Eve adventure, you can contact Heather at h_app_yparties@hotmail.com to find out more information or to buy tickets. V Brenda Kerber is a sexual health educator who has worked with local not-for-profits since 1995. She is the owner of the Edmontonbased, sex-positive adult toy boutique the Traveling Tickle Trunk.

DAN SAVAGE SAVAGELOVE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

COCK LOCKED

After spending some years in the doldrums after having kids, my husband and I are now enjoying hot kinky sex and the occasional free pass to fuck other people. We couldn't be happier. I have a friend who was extremely keen for me to cage his cock with the same kind of locking male chastity device I got for my husband—a fixed-ring stainless-steel type. I have two questions: 1) It took some manoeuvreing to get my husband's balls through one by one, followed by his cock, but he managed. Is it OK for his balls to swell up tight, get cold and go purple when he's wearing the cock cage and he is aroused?

He says it doesn't hurt, and he is wearing it only while I peg him—a couple of hours tops. I worry that even though he can squeeze into the ring, he might be cutting off circulation and doing damage. 2) My friend couldn't get his balls and cock into the cage. His balls never dropped as a child, so he had an operation that pulled them down but fixed them in place. Consequently they sit "high and tight" and can't be pulled away from his body. Can you recommend a cage that might fit him? He is into total submission and orgasm denial, and he wants to experience long-term forced chastity and relinquish control of his dick to me. (Hot, right?!) If a cage can't work for him, are there other toys/ methods I can use to give him that sense of surrendered cock and loss of control?

BITCH ABLY LOCKING LUCKY SLUTS UP PROPERLY 1) "The first rule of thumb when it comes to male chastity is this: if the balls go blue or cold, take the fucking cock cage off!" said Christopher Miers, the founder and creative force behind Steelwerks (steelwerksextreme.com), purvey-

30 AT THE BACK

ors of the world's finest male chastity devices.

"I'm a firm believer in play safe, stay comfortable and cause pain or discomfort only when it's asked for and nobody is at risk of longterm damage," Miers said. "So for the sake of their marriage and the longevity of their hot kinky sex life, BALLSUP needs to get her guy a cage that keeps him trapped but still in the realm of safe!"

A short primer for readers who aren't familiar with male chastity devices: most are anchored in place by a ring that goes around the shaft and behind the balls. The penis slides into a cylinder that attaches to the top of the ring, and the cylinder prevents erections and can even punish erections.

(Some are lined with spikes.) Once the chastity device is locked— cheaper ones with a wee padlock, custom ones with something more artful—there's no way to remove it (and free the cock) without tearing the balls off.

Back to you, BALLSUP: Miers has been creating custom-made, high-quality stainless-steel male chastity devices for 15 years—so he's the recognized expert on male chastity devices here, not your husband. Listen to Miers and toss the device you're using now and get your husband a chastity cage that doesn't turn his balls purple. You may have to experiment with some other designs and an assortment of cock rings before you find the one that locks his cock down without choking his balls off.

"I often hear from guys who wear cages made with a one-piece, slip-

on-style cock ring that it allows them to slip in easily and comfortably—but a lot of guys can remove these chastity devices even when they're locked," Miers said. "But a cage with a smaller, more secure cock ring often results in a cock ring that is too tight, especially when the person is using cheaper, massproduced cages. The best chastity devices are ones that come with a cock ring that can be opened via a hinge or taken apart—then you can get a ring that might be too small to push his balls through using the one-ball-after-the-other method, but because the ring comes apart, getting it on and off is much easier

cock ring might work.

"Because his balls sit high and tight, it is important that the scrotal gap (the gap between the front of the cock ring and the tube opening) isn't too tight, as this could possibly put more pressure on his balls," Mierssaid "The last option would be a full chastity belt.

While some of the belts out there are incredibly sexy and completely secure, experience and client feedback tell me that in the long-term, these are not ideal for a guy who wants to be kept in chastity every day." You can follow Christopher Miers on Twitter @steelwerks.

The first rule of thumb when it comes to male chastity is this: if the balls go blue or cold, take the fucking cock cage off! while providing the safety and inescapability both parties are looking for."

2) "I encountered my first client with the 'balls not dropping issue' a few years back, and it is a challenge when it comes to chastity," Miers said. "For most of these guys, I encourage a PA as a means of anchoring a lightweight chastity device."

(A PA, also known as a Prince Albert, involves poking a bonus hole in the urethra below the head of the cock and putting a ring through it.) "A PA combined with a chastity device is the most durable and secure way to lock a guy's cock up for long-term orgasm denial and forced chastity play."

But if your friend can handle some pressure on his balls, BALLSUP, a traditional-style chastity device with a hinged or two-piece

WORTH WA I T ING?

I'm a 29-yearold bi female living on the East Coast, and I've been in a relationship for three months. It's been a few years since I've dated anyone seriously, and I'm really enjoying it. We have a good relationship so far, and he's great in a lot of ways, but that's part of the problem. Next summer, he will be moving back to his hometown in the Midwest. I just started my dream job, so there's no way I would follow him. I'm uncertain about doing the long-distance thing. Since we're only three months into this, should I cut my losses and call it quits and move on? Or should I enjoy these next six months and let the chips fall where they may, whether it's the end of the relationship or the transition to long-distance?

IMPENDING EXPIRATION DATE Anything could happen in the next six months. You could lose your dream job, this guy could decide

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

not to return to his Midwestern hometown after all, or you could turn on the news and learn a megatsunami 300 feet high is racing toward the East Coast and you have eight hours to get the fuck out before your city is washed off the map—and at that point, your boyfriend's hometown in the Midwest might not look so bad. (Really! It could happen: youtu.be/Fzm49fUSCPk.) So keep dating this guy because, hey, you never know. What you want and where you want to be can change radically in six months' time.

SANTORUM TAKE TWO

Since you had the ability to make Santorum what he is today (a substance, not a senator), would you promote the new meme that Trump = dump? As in "I have to take a trump" or "I just took a major trump—like a transatlantic-cable trump."

GROSS OLD POLITICIANS I'm Dan Savage and I approve this meme.V On the Lovecast, Dan chats with Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who slew DOMA: savagelovecast.com. @fakedansavage on Twitter

HISTORY OF PEACH MELBA

FEMALE VIAGRA

JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR CRITICS GUIDE TO CRITICS TEGAN AND SARA SAINTHOOD

HOW TO COOK VEGGIES HOCKEY DECADE IN REVIEW COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE

MICHAEL RAULT

PERFORMS IN VUE STUDIO

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ALAN MCDOUGALL LOVES FISH WINE BETTERS THE HOLIDAY VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 24 – DEC 30, 2015

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

WYLD DECEMBER

Week of: Dec 24 – Dec 30

2009 Issue 710 #

UP IN THE AIR

MEATDRAW

BIX MIX BOYS WAR ON GAZA

PEANUT GALLERY

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KID A

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32 MERRY KRAMPUS!

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