1053: 2015 Year in review

FREE (resolutions)

#1053 / dec 31, 2015 – jan 5, 2016 vueweekly.com

ISSUE: 1053 DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016 COVER ILLUSTRATION: CHARLIE BIDDISCOMBE

LISTINGS

ARTS / 8 MUSIC / 16 EVENTS / 18 CLASSIFIED / 19 ADULT / 20

FRONT

3

Recounting some of the highlights of Vue's 2015 headlines // 4

DISH

5

Reviewing 2015's local food trends and predicting what will come in 2016 // 5

ARTS

6

2015's best books ran from an urgent open letter to shadowy short stories // 6

POP

9

2015 in culture writ large // 9

FILM

10

A relatively weak year for film still yielded some distinctive flicks // 10

MUSIC

13

A look back at what we had on repeat this year // 13

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

2 UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

CONTRIBUTORS Shawn Bernard, Lane Bertholet, Lee Boyes, Josef Braun, Ryan Bromsgrove, Rob Brezsny, Bruce Cinnamon, Ashley Dryburgh, Tami-lee Duncan, Gwynne Dyer, Matt Gaffney, Chris Gee, Brian Gibson, Fish Griwkowsky, Mike Kendrick, Jordyn Marcellus, Darcy Ropchan, Dan Savage, James Stewart, Mike Winters, Curtis Wright

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FRONT

FRONT EDITOR : MEL PRIESTLEY MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ASHLEY DRYBURGH // ASHLEY@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Queer predictions for 2016

Vue's queer columnist suggests what the new year might bring to the LGBTQ community Welcome to 2016, Queermonton!

2015 was a hell of a year—seismic changes in our provincial and federal governments, entertainment idols revealed to be sexual predators, oil dropped to historic lows and we even won a football game. Whether 2015 was good to you or not, I think we can all agree it was one for the books.

Nevertheless, it's time to swipe left on The Year That Trumped and set our sights on the future. I've gazed deeply into my rainbow crystal ball— it sits on my desk; I've named it "Wish Fulfillment"—and here's what it says we can look forward to in 2016.

• The Edmonton Catholic School Board will actually listen to its sermons, realize that Jesus meant that we should love everybody, and let its students pee in peace.

• In January, the furor around Bill 6

DYERSTRAIGHT

will be replaced with furor that Bill 7 (which adds gender identity and expression to the Alberta Human Rights Act) quietly passed. Bill 6 will be accused of being a distraction and a Trojan horse. Opponents to Bill 7 will claim the sky is about to fall and accuse the government of being dictators. Rebel Commander Ezra Levant will start a doomsday cult and will disappear underground with 15 of his closest supporters to await the end times. Sadly, Rachel Notley will continue to receive death threats.

• Russia's continued economic slump and sabre-rattling with Turkey will start to erode Vladimir Putin's domestic support; in retaliation, he will again target Russia's queer community as a scapegoat.

• At least one Republican presidential candidate will be outed in a gay sex

scandal. At least. Maybe two. Hopefully together.

• John Baird will announce both his engagement to a prominent Toronto Bay Streeter and his leadership bid for the Conservatives via the gay press.

• Another celebrity will participate in this year's Pride Parade, forcing the city to actually make the rainbow sidewalks permanent this time. There will continue to be an inverse relationship between washroom availability and hook-ups.

• Because Edmonton is down to two gay bars (RIP Buddy's), "gay CFR" starts to become a thing.

• The Metro LRT line will finally be fully functional (ha!).

• A Fifty Shades of Grey-inspired piece of fan fiction, featuring a leather daddy and his twink, will become a bestseller. Vin Diesel will be rumoured to be attached to the film project.

lesbians dating trans* men, the reemergence of AIDS amongst young gay men and queer retirement homes for the elderly. Only one of these will be available on Netflix.

• Pixar will release a film with a queer protagonist. Young children will roll their eyes when their parents become uncomfortable with it.

• An active NHL player will come out and he will not be forced into a smaller-but-no-less-important league in another country.

• The Xena: Warrior Princess reboot will finally make it to the screen, igniting a new generation of fan fiction.

The lesbian subtext will be even more frustrating than the original.

• All major English-based newspaper publications will follow the lead of the Washington Post and accept a singular "they," igniting a new round of debate about gender-neutral pronouns.

• Carol will win Best Picture at the Oscars; Stonewall will win Worst Picture at the Razzies. This will lead to a whole new generation of dewy-eyed indie queer filmmakers making overly earnest films about topics such as

GWYNNE DYER // GWYNNE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

After the Spanish election

Forming a new government in Spain is going to be a long, messy process "I'm going to try to form a government," said Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as the results of the national election came in on Sunday night, "but it won't be easy." His right-wing People's Party (PP) still won the most seats in parliament, 129—but that was far down from the 176 seats it would need for an absolute majority, let alone the 186 it had before the election.

Pablo Iglesias, the man who founded the Podemos ("We can") party only two years ago, agreed with Rajoy on this, if on little else. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking in the name of Podemos," he told a rally during the campaign. "We thank you for choosing the path of change.

We're expecting a bumpy ride with political turbulence."

Podemos ended up with 69 seats, not bad for a two-year-old party in its first national election—but it doesn't seem interested in cooperating with the other left-wing party. "Hopefully Podemos would be willing to work with us," said Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which got 90 seats, "but so far I perceive a threatening mixture of arrogance, self-infatuation and condescension."

"If the socialists or PP had done nothing wrong, neither Podemos nor us would exist," said Albert Rivera, leader of the even newer party, Ciudadanos (Citizens). Last January it was barely known outside Catalonia, with only three-percent support in

the polls. Last Sunday, Ciudadanos got 14 percent of the national vote and 40 seats. So forming a new government in Spain is going to be a long and messy process.

The PP and the PSOE alternated in power, and during the three-decade boom after Spain joined the European Union nobody much minded the lack of viable alternatives. Then came the world financial crisis of 2008, with stagnant or falling wages for most Spaniards and an unemployment rate that reached 27 percent.

Each party had a turn at trying to deal with the crisis, and each cut the national budget, rescheduled or repaid as much debt as possible, and imposed severe austerity on the population. Even Spain's population began to fall, as the young left in droves to find work elsewhere in the EU. So there was plenty of room for a new party offering an end to austerity, and for a while it looked like Podemos was it. It was anti-capitalist, its 36-year-old leader wore a ponytail and it promised radical change. Some people worried that it had "Venezuelan" tendencies, but a year ago the polls suggested that it could even come out ahead of both traditional parties in an election.

Not so fast. Since January the other new party, Ciudadanos, has been luring away the more timid people who once considered voting for Podemos, but were alarmed by its "Venezuelan"

tendencies. Ciudadanos also has a 36-year-old leader (no ponytail) who talks about radical change, but it is really a centre-right party that sits comfortably in the middle of the road, long left empty by the traditional parties of left and right.

That split the protest vote, so now Spain has four major parties, and creating any sort of coalition government is going to be very hard. The arithmetic means that either the PP or the PSOE must be in any coalition that can command a majority in parliament, but Ciudadanos swears that it will not join any government that it does not lead.

Podemos is being equally difficult, saying that it will ask its supporters to vote on joining any coalition. (Being fed up with both traditional parties, they would probably say no.) So unless there is a "grand coalition" between the PP and the PSOE—which is also very hard to imagine—it may not be possible to form a new government at all. In which case, after two months, there must be another election—and you can forget the economic recovery.

Hard times do not usually make people more moderate and open to compromise. Spain was a perfectly reasonable country that managed its democracy well for 40 years, but it may just have made itself ungovernable. V Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

• Last but not least: Edmonton will continue to produce and support queer culture, history and drama.

Happy New Year, everyone! V

VUEPOINT

DARCY ROPCHAN DARCY@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Needless publicity After an atrocity like the armed robberies that claimed the lives of two Mac's convenience store employees in the earlymorning hours of December 18, there's the inevitable and confusing task of trying to establish a motive behind such senseless acts of violence. Details about the lives of the men accused in the attack are starting to emerge, as their socialmedia footsteps are being publicized and reported on. This is nothing more than unnecessary speculation and needless glorification of alleged killers, but sadly it's a common occurrence after incidences of highly publicized mass violence.

Although specifics about the case are scarce to the public at this time, glimpses into the lives of the two adult males (a 13-year-old male was also charged, but his identity cannot be revealed) accused in the double homicide—Colton Steinhauer and Laylin Delorme—are being pieced together and reported on through photos and statuses posted on the accused men's Facebook and Instagram accounts. Various photos show the two men posing with guns, flashing gang signs and frequently giving the middle finger, along with statuses quoting violent rap lyrics. This kind of information isn't newsworthy and offers no kind of motive or evidence for the double homicide

that took place.

Photos of people posing with firearms and flashing gang signs may be unpleasant to some, but it's not illegal and certainty shouldn't be viewed as indicative of premeditated criminal behaviour. The two alleged adult suspects are accused of a heinous crime, so any photo or status can be cherry picked from their social media profiles and made to look frightening.

Unless a specific threat or relevant information pertaining to the crime is posted, it shouldn't matter what an accused killer's social media profile looks like.

The accused will have their day in court, and the necessary details pertaining to their lives will be presented there— where it belongs.

Not only is this kind of information irrelevant to the crime itself, it's also needless sensationalism that plays off the public fear that immediately follows a gruesome and highly publicized tragedy. If an accused suspect is found guilty, they don't deserve any kind of publicity outside of the necessary details relating to the crime. If the two accused men are found guilty after a trial, they will face the criminal justice system. Any attempted insight into their lives, gleaned through their social media history, is pointless and saddening.V UP FRONT 3

FRONT FRONT // YEAR IN REVIEW

A year in alternative news Recounting some of the highlights of Vue's 2015 headlines

V

ue reported on a number of news stories over the past year, many of which were, as per our mandate, under- or misrepresented, or wholly absent, from mainstream news sources. Here's a collection of some of the year's highlights.

Congolese refugees can "never go back" (January 29) Canadians have made a firm stand on embracing Syrian refugees, yet many other groups of refugees are largely overlooked. Months before everyone started talking (and arguing) about the millions of refugees displaced by the civil war in Syria, Vue ran a story about Congolese refugees. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been engaged in ongoing conflict and war for over 20 years, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees to UN settlement camps in neighbouring countries. The casualty rate is staggeringly high— two million children alone have died as a result of the conflict— yet western news contains barely a whisper of any reports on this, especially now that Syrian refugees dominate headlines.

4 UP FRONT

Alberta's wild-horse population sees third roundup in four years (March 5) Early in the year, a governmentsanctioned roundup captured over 40 wild horses from the Ghost River Equine Zone in southern Alberta. The move—which was the third roundup over the past four years—was designed to keep the population of wild horses at a manageable level that's balanced with their impact on the local ecosystem, but which some opponents criticized as unnecessary given alternative methods of population control.

Tangentially related, Vue published a story on December 3 about Canada's multi-million dollar horse meat industry ("Canada's multi-million dollar horse meat industry might be on the verge of change" – December 3). The industry has experienced a decline in recent years and could be snuffed out completely due to the change in federal government, as Liberal MLAs were unanimously in favour of a bill that would limit the horse meat industry to animals raised specifically for slaughter. (This was struck down in May 2014 by the then-majority PC government.)

Edmonton's city council approves citizen-supported Energy Transition Strategy in the face of changing climate (May 7) Edmonton took a major stand in addressing climate change locally with an eight-year action plan that aims to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, diversify our energy economy and transition to a low-carbon footprint.

The strategy's programming will cost up to $30 million but is projected to generate a net profit of $2.5 billion by 2035. The strategy received widespread citizen support, though of course some industries have reservations. Regardless, the recently concluded UN climate change talks, coupled with the data spilling in from around the world, are a clear indication that climate change is a major issue that countries around the world are taking very seriously—so this strategy is a very encouraging step in the right direction.

A housing-first approach aims to end homelessness (July 23) Vue checked in on two 10-year action plans adopted in 2009 in order to combat the rising level of chronic homelessness: A Plan for Alberta at the provincial level and A Place To

Call Home within Edmonton. The numbers are encouraging: local notfor-profit organization Homeward Trust reported that since 2008, homelessness has decreased 18 percent province-wide, and 27 percent within Edmonton. The approach credited with this significant reduction is a housing-first strategy, which seeks to get people into a home as quickly as possible, so that they can start working on the challenges that rendered them homeless in the first place.

Checking in on the city's 10-year plan for arts and heritage in Edmonton (October 8) Back in 2008, Edmonton officially adopted a breathtakingly ambitious 10-year plan for arts and heritage called the Art of Living. Vue checked in with the Edmonton Arts Council to see how much progress has been made so far, now that we're over halfway through that decade. The results have been measured, but there are successes. Because this story focused predominantly on the arts side of the plan, Vue recently checked in with the Heritage Council for the heritage side of the plan ("Between past and future" – December 24).

Despite paranoia about debt, sometimes it's necessary policy (November 5) The "D" word has long been vilified by the political right as a symptom of

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

governmental excess and moral failing, but the NDP's embraced debt in its first provincial budget as a means of coping with Alberta's looming financial crisis. Our province is set to run a budget deficit until 2019 to get back into the black, a move that has been decried by conservatives across the board. But economists view running a deficit during a recession as appropriate, and it's also important to remember that Alberta's current economic mess was caused by the previous Conservative government. Only time will tell whether this bold move will pan out, economically for the province and politically for the NDP. The Edmonton Eskimos' name debate opens a larger discussion about naming and reconciliation (December 10) The Eskimos' recent Grey Cup win was another opening to discuss its racist team name, but Vue took it one step further and questioned other local names, as well as discussed the function of renaming within reconciliation. Renaming is a complicated process not to be taken lightly, and it certainly isn't going to resolve complex social, political and historical issues overnight. But it undoubtedly plays a vital role in reconciliation and Edmonton would do well to seriously consider its local names.

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

DISH

DISH EDITOR: MEL PRIESTLEY MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FOOD // YEAR IN REVIEW

A year in Edmonton food

Reviewing 2015's local food trends and predicting what will come in 2016

E

dmonton has had a good year in food. Our city's local food culture continues to grow and diversify on several fronts: a number of notable new restaurants have opened up, and food trucks continue to dominate the summer landscape; Edmonton hosted the Canadian Food Championships in July while Alberta was the site of Cook it Raw, a globally renowned chef think-tank. We've also seen increased focus on making our local food system more resilient, sustainable and humane. Overall, meaningful work has been done and 2016's outlook seems optimistic, though there are certainly many areas in which we can continue to grow and develop.

Urban agriculture: bigger and better If you had to pick the most significant aspect of Edmonton's food scene in 2015, urban agriculture would certainly rank near the top of the list (possibly at the summit, depending on who you ask). This year saw the city change zoning bylaws to be more definitively inclusive of urban-agriculture projects, a major boon to the few people already doing it (namely Reclaim Urban Farm and Lactuca), as well as making it a lot easier for new people to get into the business. The city also green-lit backyard bees and hosted a pilot project for backyard chickens—we'll find out if the latter is a go-ahead early in the new year (fingers crossed).

2015 also saw the continued expansion and influence of farmer's markets, farm CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), the Organic Box and SPUD; the second round of planting at the MacKinnon Ravine food forest; a refocus in Sustainable Food Edmonton's mandate to be a central organizing point for our city's urban agriculture and food projects in general; and a new festival (Edmonton Resilience Festival) of which building local food resilience is a major focus.

Food buzzword of the year: local "Local and organic" has become a mantra among foodie circles in recent years, with increasing numbers of people buying food from local farms as well as choosing organic products. While that is great and certainly something we should continue to seek in our food sources, those two words have also become somewhat like buzzwords. Greenwashing campaigns have been around since the organic movement really started taking hold, but branding foods as local has quickly started to become commonplace as well. Watch out for companies, especially large corporate chains, promising things like "farm to plate" dinners or casually tossing around the world "local"— what does local actually mean, and how/why are they using it? These are important questions that everyone needs to give careful consideration.

Coffee wave: not crested yet (?)

I was proven wrong in my prediction, at this time last year, that the upswing in Edmonton's coffee scene might have reached its peak.

Not only did we get a brand-new coffee-centered festival in March (Yeg Coffee Week), a number of new coffee shops also opened over the past year, including Rogue Wave, Coffee Bureau, Lock Stock, Little Brick and Bru Coffee & Beer House. Has Edmonton reached peak coffee? Only time will tell.

Food waste: lagging behind On a larger North American scale, food waste was the hot-button issue this year. Locally, the issue was one of the focuses at this year's LitFest Food Matters talk. A number of cookbooks have come out addressing the issue of our society's disgustingly high amount of food waste (to the tune of about 40 percent annually) and offering practical tips on how to avoid it yourself.

Edmonton's small grocers and local food producers and distributors— and especially our world-leading municipal waste-management system—are actively working on this issue. But Edmonton hasn't really seen a concerted effort on behalf of the major grocers to address the problem, and certainly nothing like the legislation that was recently passed in Europe (led especially by France), in seriously curtailing food wasted at the supermarket level.

Whyte Avenue: for lease Stroll down Whyte Avenue and you'll see a number of empty storefronts and signs advertising spaces for lease. Rent prices continue to skyrocket in that area and it's increasingly difficult for businesses to remain sustainable, especially restaurants and bars that are perpetually operating on a thin margin.

Longstanding Whyte Avenue pub Elephant and Castle was the most recent place to shutter, though a number of other businesses were sold or closed, or are currently in the process of either. This, coupled with the rise of 124 Street as the newly revitalized dining and shopping district (where rent prices are often four times less than they are on Whyte, according to inside sources), and the current recession, mean that the doom and gloom likely isn't over yet. Expect even more places to close on Whyte in 2016. It's impossible to say what will happen in the long-term—complete gentrification to a monopoly of large corporate chains, or a price collapse and (eventual) return to its previous mom-and-pop shop state?

No one can say for sure, but the latter sure feels like wishful thinking at this point.

HAPPY

2016 EDMONTON

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MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

DISH 5

ARTS

ARTS EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

BOOKS // YEAR IN REVIEW

Adding to your "to read" pile 2015's best books ran from an urgent open letter to shadowy short stories

L

ooking back on any given year in books reminds me of what I haven't read as much as what I have.

It strikes me as likely that Helen Macdonald's H is For Hawk or Åsne Seierstad's One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway, both of which peer at me from the edge of my table, would appear on my list, as they have on many others.

So, as always, please take this as the best of JB's year in reading and not as any sort of authoritative decree— though it turns out that in some cases I seem to be joining the consensus as what constitute some of 2015's essential books.

Between the World and Me

By Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau) Case in point. Coates' open letter to his teenage son is an urgent, astute, captivatingly literate, fiercely personal analysis of the American racial divide, something that, controversially, Coates regards as institutionalized and endemic to his country's spirit.

Between the World and Me leaves no room for presumptions about tolerance, solidarity, the American Dream, the prizing of "safety" over justice, the nobility of victimhood, the sanctity of the human body and the entire notion of race ("race is the child of racism, not the father"). Required reading, as Toni Morrison insists, and that means for everyone.

Outline

By Rachel Cusk (Harper Perennial) I was woefully ignorant of Cusk before a description of her latest novel snagged my attention. It was only upon embarking upon Outline's narrator's journey from London to Athens to teach a writing workshop that I was suddenly hit by the feeling that this was a book written for me. Outline is a story about other people's stories.

Actually, that's misleading: this is a story about how we see ourselves or validate our experiences or expand our sense of the world through the stories of other people, people met on airplanes or in cafés, people who appear in your living room or show up unexpectedly for dinner. Their stories spill forward like casual incantation, like tiny epics. Outline is also about marriage and identity, and I cannot wait to delve into the other works of this (Canadian-born!) author I clearly should have known about.

Fifteen Dogs

By André Alexis (Coach House) Alexis' award-gobbling picaresque begins as a lark but grows into something thrilling and profound. A couple of gods get stinko, make a bet and endow 15 captive dogs with human intelligence and linguistic abilities before setting them free to roam Toronto. Is self-consciousness a curse?

Is freedom an illusion to those capable of comprehending it? Is it good to

have a master? Drawing upon the history of philosophy and a persuasive intuition regarding canine pleasures, Fifteen Dogs follows the diverse and diverting destinies of its fantastically afflicted pooches and in the end reflects back to us the strange peculiarities of human experience.

On the Move

By Oliver Sacks (Knopf) With the death of Oliver Sacks the world lost not only a gifted doctor and writer but also, it seems to me, a wonderfully odd human being uniquely gifted at the art of listening, learning and embracing difference.

Nearly all of Sacks' popular books were collections of case studies— again, books of other people's stories—but the final volume published in his lifetime tells his own story, that of a busy life brimming with scientific discovery, travel, motorcycles, weightlifting, experiments with intoxicants and one insanely long period of celibacy. On the Move is fascinating, enlightening, candid, funny and, indeed, extremely moving.

Thus Were Their Faces

By Silvina Ocampo (NYRB Classics) The late Silvina Ocampo has had a shamefully impoverished afterlife in English, with, to my knowledge, one volume of her short stories published that went out of print long ago. The mighty NYRB Classics division has

recued the great Argentine author from oblivion with this superb collection of her stories, which, not unlike the stories of Jane Bowles, often depart from familiar scenarios to traverse eerie fantastical shadow worlds as a way of drawing truths from the deeper wells of the unconscious. Acclaimed

by Borges, the spouse of Adolfo Bioy Casares and sister of legendary publisher Victoria Ocampo, Silvina was Argentine literary aristocracy, but Thus Were Their Faces should help ensure that her sovereignty reaches far beyond the southern tip of South America.

There are the five that sprung to mind, but can I also share with you my ongoing enthusiasm for Sarah Manguso's Ongoingness (Graywolf), in which the author essays on her own history of compulsive diary-keeping, not to mention the lesser-known transformative affects of motherhood? Can I also hail the charms and acute understanding of the Mexican art of bullshitting found in Valeria Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth (Coffee House)? Or the many ingenious, maddeningly digressive, ferociously inventive tales collected in César Aira's The Musical Brain (New Directions)? Can I extoll the highly literate chills provid-

ed me by the reprinting of William Sloane's brilliant genre novels of the 1930s, To Walk the Night and The Edge of Running Water, collected in a single volume, complete with a Stephen King introduction, titled The Rim of Morning (NYRB Classics)? And lastly, may I make a special mention of 2015 as some kind of banner year for musicians' memoirs? Philip Glass' Words Without Music (Liveright), Kim Gordon's Girl in a Band (HarperCollins) and Viv Albertine's Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys (Faber & Faber) were all hugely evocative and engrossing reads—and I haven't even gotten around to Patti Smith's M Train (Knopf) yet. 2016 will have to start with 2015 catch-up.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

THEATRE // YEAR IN REVIEW

Onstage patterns

Sifting through the theatre trends of 2015

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ecalling the year in theatre is always split-minded exercise: given the way it runs, you're reflecting on the end of last season and the start of this one (plus there's the Fringe, smack-dab in them middle).

So, rather than any sort of bestof list, we scoured our notes for trends of the season, the patterns that emerged in Edmonton theatre in 2015.

With contributions from Paul Blinov (PB) and Bruce Cinnamon (BC).

The rally behind the Roxy The year started with the loss of the Roxy, one of Edmonton's longeststanding, most well-loved theatres.

But from the ashes of a building came a wellspring of community rallying: Teatro La Quindicina delayed its long-awaited Varscona renovations so the Roxy's resident company, Theatre Network, could finish its season at Teatro's temporary home, the Backstage Theatre. Then

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Catalyst Theatre's former home of C103 was converted into The Roxy on Gateway as a temporary residence. Hopefully that same level of compassion will remain as Theatre Network amps up to rebuild on the former Roxy site. PB Double acts Sometimes you have to strip away all the glam and spectacle of live theatre to really get at the emotional core of a story. Some of Edmonton's best plays of 2015 did just that, scaling down until they became a conversation between only two people. Theatre Network's Armstrong's War, Shadow Theatre's First Time Last Time, pretty much every Fringe show I saw—all of them devoted themselves to exploring a single relationship in great depth. They tested the skill of their actors, often pairing veterans like Garrett Ross and Andrew MacDonald-Smith (The Best Brothers) with great chemistry.

The double act is not a new form, but this year Edmonton's theatre companies used it to great effect. BC Sibling relationships For anyone who's worried that a rise of double-act shows means a glut of rom-coms and relationship dramas, fear not! Whether they had each other's backs or were burying knives in them, sisters and brothers stole the show this year. From revolutionary Russia (Teatro la Quindicina's The Hothouse Prince) to 1960s Dublin (Walterdale Theatre's A Man of No Importance), the peaks and valleys of sibling relationships were on full display in a noticeable number of shows. A standout example was Studio Theatre's Tribes, which explored the relationship between a deaf man and his inclusive-in-nameonly family. BC Green-lit risks It seems like 2015 was heavy with

out-there ideas for theatre: from Punctuate Theatre's ambitious Suburban Motel Series—six linked one-act plays set in the same hotel room, watchable as either a few episodes per night or weekend marathons of the whole thing—to Thou Art Here's continued push to bring the Bard into unusual locales; from Northern Light's meta-theatrical look at gender in Christina /Philippe to Blarney Productions' reimagining of Psycho, Mote, where the audience was seated above the action; from the immensely physical, choral storytelling of Pyretic Productions' Bears to Kristine Nutting's Devour Content Here, which happened in a dusty-as-all-hell warehouse. Even Winners and Losers, which toured through the Citadel on the strength of its raw, argument-based structure, was sort of experience that didn't feel like traditional theatre.

Not everything worked, but it was a rare year that felt packed with

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

risk after risk, offering audiences up indelible takes on the artform the whole way. PB A monochromatic scene Before Miss Saigon opened in June, director Martin Galba explicitly stated that he wanted to create more space for racial minorities in Edmonton theatre. But apart from Miss Saigon and a boot-tapping cameo performance by Mark Cassius in the Citadel's Evangeline, the past year was still dominated by white actors. Of course, it's impossible to determine every factor that creates this situation, but without more people of colour in starring roles, there's no doubt that fewer young actors of colour will see people like themselves on stage and bring their talent to our city's stages. Here's hoping for a less painfully monochromatic theatre scene in 2016. BC

PREVUE // EXPERIMENTAL

himiko performs at Dirt Buffet Cabaret // Tracy O'Camera

Dirt Buffet Cabaret

'E

dmonton has a wealth of incredible festivals, but few ongoing series," writes Ben Gorodetsky.

The creative mind behind Mile Zero Dance's Dirt Buffet Cabaret, Gorodetsky has been organizing the experimental performance series since April 2015.

"I got the idea to put together the DBC by looking at an array of my favourite performance events and shamelessly thieving the best elements from them," he explains via email from Austria, where he's taking part in an international physical-theatre laboratory.

"I figured it would be great to engage our diverse and rich performing arts community in a monthly, inclusive and permissive way."

The performance series is structured in six 10-minute segments, where artists of all disciplines have the freedom to explore whatever ideas they want. There are no set themes or limitations on who can apply, and only one rule seems to govern the shows: make it weird.

"I often encourage folks to go outside of their dominant genre or style," Gorodetsky writes. "So you might see a stand-up comedian doing racially charged, dramatic performance art; a contemporary dancer doing a naked tap-dance routine; or a provincialmedallist weightlifter reciting poetry while squatting huge amounts of weight. Incidentally, all of these are real examples."

Thu, Jan 7 (8 pm) Mile Zero Dance's Spazio Performativo (10816 - 95 St), $10 (noone refused for lack of funds)

Gorodetsky hopes that the series provides a space for marginalized artists who have more difficulty getting their work produced in conventional venues.

"I think DBC gives a stage to those who might not feel welcome in other environments. Young artists, minorities, women, trans-folks and anyone else who might have felt excluded in their performance can talk to me and get a spot on the show."

Over its last eight iterations, Dirt Buffet has received a positive response from the community at large, and Gorodetsky expects it to continue and to include new artists.

"Many folks have told me that DBC is their favourite 'art event' in the city, and that makes my heart wiggle with joy," he explains. "By that same token I think some folks have been offended, which is also OK by me. I love presenting provocative work, giving voice to diverse artists, and letting people serve themselves their own heaping helping of delicious dirt!"

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VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

ARTS 7

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

DANCE COME JOIN THE DANCE-SACRED CIRCLE DANCE • Riverdale Hall, 92 St & 100 Ave • sackerman1@me.com • sacredcircledance.com • Nurture the body, mind, and soul with a variety of songs, music and movements. All dances are taught. Open nights are for everyone. No partner required • 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 movementbased 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 12-13, 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

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

METRO • Metro at the Garneau Theatre, 8712-109 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) • gateway to cinema: Memento (Jan 27) • 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: 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)

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)

(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)

• The Science Garage: new gallery opening in Dec • The International Exhibition Of Sherlock Holmes; Mar 25, 2016-Sep 5, 2016

performers play 17 instruments in a knockout tribute to Leonard Cohen's most transcendent songs • Jan 13-24

BLEEDING HEART ART SPACE • 9132-118 Ave • dave@bleedingheartartspace.com • Waiting Room: A multimedia installation by Alysha Chreighton; Nov 21-Jan 16

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

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

Bugera matheson gallery • 10345-

Vaa gallery • 3rd Fl, 10215-112 St •

124 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 • 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 Drawing room • 10253-97 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)

GALLERIES + MUSEUMS

ENTERPRISE SQUARE GALLERIES •

ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL GALlery • 10186-106 St • 780.488.6611 • albertacraft. ab.ca • Discovery gallery: A Place for Everything: artwork by Terry Hildebrand; Jan 9-Feb 6 • Feature gallery: X3: artwork by Alberta Potters’ Association, Contextural | Fibre Arts Cooperative and the Nina Haggerty Centre; Jan 16-Mar 26; Opening reception: Jan 16, 2-4pm

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

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) • 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

gallery@501 • 501 Festival Ave, Sherwood Park • 780.410.8585 • strathcona.ca/artgallery • Portraits: artwork by Corie Side, Claire Uhlick and Marie Winters; Jan 8-Feb 21

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

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

telus worlD oF science • 11211-142 St • telusworldofscienceedmonton.com • Free$117.95 • Beyond Rubik's Cube; Nov 7-Feb 15

8 ARTS

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

LITERARY eDmonton story slam • Mercury Room,10575-114 St • edmontonstoryslam. com • facebook.com/mercuryroomyeg • Great stories, interesting company, fabulous atmosphere • 3rd Wed each month • 7pm (signup); 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

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 scramBleD yeg • Brittany's Lounge, 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 •

DIE-nasty • The Backstage Theatre at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330-83 Ave • communications@varsconatheatre.com • die-nasty.com • Live improvised soap opera • Runs every Mon, 7:30-9:30pm • Until May 30, 2016 (no show Dec 21 or 28) • $14 or $9 with a $30 membership; at the door (cash) or at tixonthesquare.com

Dirty Dancing – the classic story ON STAGE • Jubilee Auditorium, 11455-87 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 onstage and off • Jan 5-10

Flora & Fawna's FielD triP • Northern 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)

THEATRE

THE SOCIAL SCENE • Citadel Theatre, 9828101A 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

11 o'clock numBer • The Backstage

star warz: a galactic rock comeDy

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, 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

• 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

Back to the 80s: a most excelLENT MUSICAL ADVENTURE • Mayfield Dinner

teatroQ new years • Backstage Theatre

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 CHELSEA HOTEL • Citadel Theatre, 9828 101A Ave • 780.425.1820 • citadeltheatre.com • With extraordinary new arrangements, six

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

• 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 Lemoinea 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

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 who's aFraiD oF Virginia woolF? • 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

POP // YEAR IN REVIEW

POP

POP EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

2015's ubiquitous sponges of hate

A

nother year-end list of stuff?

You better believe it. Here's a scatter of reflections on the year in pop culture.

Contributions by Paul Blinov (PB), Ryan Bromsgrove (RB) and Mike Kendrick (MK).

Best: The re-emergence of pro wrestling in the mainstream, in spite of itself It's been a weird year to be a professional wrestling fan. While audiences rolled their eyes at the inane creative decisions made by WWE's writers, Vince McMahon's empire marched ever onward, making arguably its biggest impact in 15 years. Through clever promotional deals fuelled by the legitimacy of former UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar, WWE received more coverage from mainstream sports outlets like ESPN than it ever has. Monday Night Raw became a regular talking point for then-Daily Show host Jon Stewart, leading to a guest role at Summerslam, wherein he double-crossed perennial top-dog John Cena with a shocking steelchair shot. Cena, meanwhile, transcended his image as a good-guy superstar hero for eight-year-olds to become one of year's most obnoxious memes—and the second-most Googled GIF of 2015. And if there's any doubt that wrestling is cool again, refer to the rise of pulp-film luminary Robert Rodriguez's Lucha Underground as one of the best (and most ridiculous) serialized dramas on cable TV this year. MK Worst: Minions, and the subsequent Minions hate I didn't see Minions. I haven't even seen Despicable Me—either of them.

But as an adult who loves animated films, even those primarily targeted at children, I know there's something wrong with Minions. Maybe it's a good film? It doesn't matter.

All I know is that, since its release, my Facebook news feed has been flooded with Minions memes, and people's very strong opinions about said memes. For every well-meaning aunt who's shared an out-of-context inspirational quote clumsily typeset over an image of one of these grinning golden bastards, there's been an equal amount of vitriol slung at the cyclopic horrors and everything they stand for. Which is—I don't know.

Why are we getting so angry about a cartoon character existing? Aren't there wars to stop, and bigoted politicians to keep out of office? MK Best: The rise of Chip Zdarsky In comics, 2015 was so evidently the year of Chip Zadarsky that ComicsAlliance's Best of 2015 poll had an entire reader-voted category based around him: "The Chip Zdarsky Award For Achievements In Working With Chip Zdarsky, Featuring Chip Zdarsky."

As Sex Criminals continued its Eisner Award-winning run, Zdarsky expanded from illustration into writing in a huge way: he premiered original work (sci-fi throwback Kaptara), and Marvel gave him a Howard the Duck reboot.

Now he's writing a Jughead comic, and claims to be working a new Batman series for DC (though nobody seems have confirmation on that.) But Dark Knight or no, it was a watershed year for the former National Post illustrator, and the best showcase of his personality and talents since he stopped corresponding with the Applebee's Facebook account.

Worst: cultural appropriation—still a regular, acceptable thing by some!

Moreso than a simple refusal for appropriation to shrink away, 2015 seemed to slosh with backlash to the very idea of consideration from outcry at major music festivals banning headdresses worn as fashion accessories to an entrenched refusal to seriously consider renaming problematic

sports-team names to Calgary band Viet Cong's non-apology over its own name (while the band's made a plan to change names, it's also been sluggish on that front, all while still touring). At every turn there was balking at the idea of meaningful change, and instead, a doubling down on hot-take justifications. PB Best: Life is Strange This year saw several big much-anticipated releases. Between Metal Gear Solid V, Bloodborne and Fallout 4, I figured I knew what was going to shine brightest this year. But then Life is Strange showed up. We've all been gruff mercenaries, gothic adventurers and post-apocalyptic warriors before—but did anyone even know we wanted to be a hipster teenage girl dealing with high school drama and time-travel powers, trying to solve a murder mystery with a long-lost best friend while taking killer Polaroids of the world maybe ending? Nope. But finding out that's exactly what we did want was a hell of an emotional surprise. RB WORST: The hell, Konami?

Konami's been a confusing mess this year—the biggest casualty being the cancelled Silent Hills.

The series had been stagnant for some time, so when it was announced (via an obscure puzzle in a spooky hour-long game, P.T. that showed up free on the PSN store with no fanfare) that the project would be a collaboration between Guillermo del Toro and Metal Gear's Hideo Kojima, with The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus starring, and a later revelation that acclaimed horror manga artist Junji Ito was attached, it looked like the genre itself was about to be redefined. Months later, it was cancelled.

We could have had it all, but all Konami had for us was disappointment and weird corporate obfuscation. RB

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

POP 9

FILM // YEAR IN REVIEW

FILM

FILM EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

The Look of Silence

A welcome shift A relatively weak year for film still yielded some distinctive flicks

T

his year initially struck me as a relatively weak year for movies, but as soon as I started thinking more seriously about the movies that mattered most I began to realize that what they lack in number they often make up for in distinctiveness. And while only two of the 13 directors of these 10 titles are women, the frequency with which female-centric stories appeared in my best of 2015 gives me some hope for a welcome shift in the male-centric cinema paradigm.

The Look of Silence Joshua Oppenheimer's companion piece to The Act of Killing is also, in a sense, its reverse shot: where its predecessor examined the legacy of Indonesia's 1965 genocide through the eyes of its perpetrators, The Look of Silence assumes the gaze of its victims. Yet these documentaries concern the present, not history. The killers have remained in power these last 50 years, and thus these films, by turns appalling and overwhelmingly moving, report from a place where many have lived their entire lives in fear of their own neighbours—yet The Look of Silence is resolute in its heralding of forgiveness and reconciliation. I can think of no other recent cinematic project more ambitious or profound. Selamat to all involved.

Clouds of Sils Maria Carol The Duke of Burgundy When I sat down to compile this list I didn't realize that at least three of my favourite fiction films of 2015 were about intimate relationships between women of different ages, but I like very much that each of the following films do something very different with their characters' intricate geometries, arriving at something universal by being intensely specific.

10 FILM

Clouds of Sils Maria revolves around a mercurial, internationally renowned actress struggling with relevance in middle age (Juliette Binoche) and the young assistant (Kristen Stewart, never better) expected to absorb all manner of duty and emotional detritus. Much of Olivier Assayas' chamber drama is set in and around the secluded Swiss alpine home of a recently deceased playwright, making this increasingly fraught encounter between two women assume shades of Bergman's Persona, but Assayas' serpentine narrative, though equally mysterious, is more expansive and realist—and gives Binoche one of her most personal, unique and ingeniously executed roles.

Phyllis Nagy's adaptation makes few changes to Patricia Highsmith's source novel The Price of Salt, yet every one is very significant and very wise. A romance between a young, seemingly naïve aspiring photographer (Rooney Mara) and an older, affluent, more experienced mother and soon-to-be divorcée (Cate Blanchett), Carol is so knowing about the minutia of falling in love. Set in the 1950s, with just the slightest whiff of an NYC lesbian milieu lurking and waiting in the background, it's one of I'm Not There director Todd Haynes' least conceptually driven works, yet it is as immensely intelligent as it is tender.

Just as Carol feels flush with all those feelings that make up the start of love, so does Peter Strickland's follow-up to Berberian Sound Studio feel fecund with ideas about the life of long-term love. Baroque and oneiric in its fetishistic flurries of strange and beguiling sounds and images, this tale of two female sadomasochistic lovers in a rough patch isn't about homosexuality per se— the film is set in some bizarre, frilly alternate universe where men don't exist—nor is it a sober study of sub/

dom practices, since Strickland uses these practices primarily as a way to externalize and render cinematic what might otherwise be internal.

The Duke of Burgundy is hermetic yet resonant, flamboyantly peculiar yet so lovingly crafted that it arrives at your senses like a meticulously wrapped gift. It is also wildly beautiful and audaciously funny.

The Forbidden Room Strickland did not, however, have a monopoly on the bizarre, the oneiric or the fetishistic in 2015. This maximalist epic is the byproduct of codirectors Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's interactive Séances project. Not much is forbidden in The Forbidden Room, a delirium-soaked nesting-doll mega-narrative that makes enough room for a bathing instructional, a submarine movie, a tale of rescue from some cave-dwelling cabal, a story about a moustache ... I could go on and on. The movie certainly does.

And, peppered with memorable appearances from the likes of Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier, it is a deliciously unbridled ride through the loopy, murky land of Id. Phoenix I said earlier that at least three of my favourite films of 2015 featured intimate female relationships—can we make that three and a half? Like other films from German director Christian Petzold, Phoenix finds its roots in iconic films of earlier periods—in this case Vertigo—yet this masterfully structured thriller about the return of a Holocaust survivor and former cabaret singer (Nina Hoss in one of the year's finest performances) to a newly liberated Berlin is strikingly original, a subtly moving quasi-fable about the willful blindness, the slipperiness of identity and the sometimes perverse nature of longing.

That Hoss' heroine has complicated allegiances to both a woman and a man only enriches the emotional terrain of this near-perfect film. Alas, Phoenix never rose into Edmonton cinemas, but it's now available for online streaming.

The Assassin Sicario Though based on a Tang Dynasty story about an assassin charged with the liquidation of her own cousin during a provincial revolt, this painterly wuxia from Taiwan's Hou Hsiaohsien approaches narrative largely through allusion and ellipses, focusing its energies on vivid yet hushed atmospherics, tempered emotions and on the crafting of truly exquisite soundscapes and images laden with countless details. There is something deeply mesmerizing about, say, the placement of a pomegranate on a table under the undulating light coming from behind a diaphanous curtain.

Every other scene seems to be staged beneath a palimpsest of gauze. The underlying ethical dilemma and ritualistic violence animate The Assassin, building in tandem, climaxing with the unified might of a symphony.

Sicario, by contrast, isn't supposed to be about assassination and betrayal, yet that's exactly where this dread-laden narco-narrative is heading. I have issues with Taylor Sheridan's reactionary script, but Quebecois director Denis Villeneuve wisely shapes the film as a kind of horror story, running with Sheridan's framing of Mexico's fraught north as one sprawling bogeyman, at once ruthlessly exploiting our fears and critiquing the US' endlessly senseless approach to combating the drug trade and illegal immigration. Emily Blunt is rock-solid as the hapless FBI SWAT agent in way over her head and Josh Brolin is hugely enjoyable as the

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

Machiavellian CIA Special Activities officer roping her into some nasty business south of the border. But it's Benicio Del Toro who steals the show as Sicario's spookily quiet supporting character—and its only Latino.

Mississippi Grind This woefully underseen road movie from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson, Sugar) is an overt homage to certain '70s character studies, most notably Robert Altman's California Split, yet it feels organic and entirely true to its own discoveries of character and place. Ben Mendelsohn gives one of the year's most nuanced, lovingly lived-in performances as the older and more hopeless of Mississippi Grind's two travelling gambling buddies—though Ryan Reynolds is also very good. What's more, I can't think of any other movie that has better helped me to understand the fundamental, existential compulsion to gamble.

Manakamana Several pilgrims—not to mention a chicken and some goats—are carried by cable car up a Nepalese mountaintop Hindu temple in Stephanie Spray and Pacho Valez's remarkable documentary. We can't be sure of the degree to which these subjects are undergoing spiritual awe: some are busy with ice cream, others are distracted with excitement over an upcoming concert. Manakamana asks us to reset our film-going expectations, to embrace the pleasures and cumulative rewards of looking at faces, bodies, clothes, jewelry, objects and landscapes, of listening to conversations, half-murmured thoughts, panicked bleats. It is a movie quietly in love with the world—and I suspect the world could really use some of that.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // TARANTINO

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The Hateful Eight

T

he title is nothing if not factual. "The eighth film by Quentin Tarantino," as the self-aggrandizing directorial credit informs us, does indeed, for much of its three-hourplus duration, concern the interaction of eight mostly hateful men— OK, plus one equally hateful woman, but what is this, a math class or a motherfuckin' movie?!—stuck in a Wyoming roadhouse during a blizzard sometime in the 1800s. More importantly, the film, despite its obvious affection for those hateful, colourful men, is itself fairly hateful.

By which I mean that The Hateful Eight may well be the most blithely nihilistic film of Tarantino's career.

Many times I admired it for its craft, its game performances, its deft way with suspense and its truly remarkable ability to not be boring—no small feat for a genre film largely confined to a single location and very heavy on dialogue. Yet by the time Hateful Eight was over, that admiration was overshadowed by its lazy cynicism disguised as western revisionism.

It opens with an overture, a throwback, like so many aspects of Hateful Eight, to an earlier era in cinema, and a confusing convention in a 21stcentury context. (Do I shush chatty neighbours yet? Has the movie begun?) After the opening credits roll and the film begins proper we're treated to a series of uninspired establishing shots. I suppose all this serves to highlight Ennio Morricone's grandiose score, but it also sets the tone for a film in no hurry to go nowhere. A stagecoach carrying one bounty hunter (Kurt Russell), his prize bounty (Jennifer Jason

Leigh) and their driver (James Parks) is halted by another bounty hunter (Samuel L Jackson), this one marooned and in need of a lift, and just getting him inside the coach must take 10 minutes. Eventually they pick up another man (Walton Goggins, who really looks like Jack Nicholson in a cowboy hat) claiming to be the incumbent mayor of the town of their destination. They never make it to town but are instead forced to hole up in the aforementioned roadhouse, where they meet a Mexican (Damián Bichir), an executioner (Tim Roth), a diarist (Michael Madsen) and a Southern Civil War vet (Bruce Dern). Nobody trusts anybody nor should they, though what anybody is really up to, save the ornery but earnest Russell, is anybody's guess.

And, while coffee is brewed, chess is played, horses are stowed and stew is served, the guessing goes on for a while. "Patience is the name of the game," we are told, and our patience is rewarded, I guess, just before the intermission, when the first appalling act of violence we were waiting for finally ensues.

Opens Friday Directed by Quentin Tarantino  ing to endow them with a gift for gab befitting the era they inhabit?

This is just one of many elements that makes Hateful Eight underwhelming. The film may draw from André de Toth's Day of the Outlaw, for one, but possesses none of that precedent's sense of deeper menace or moral investment. Its blood-andbrain-soaked final act may close on a fatalistic-buddy-movie note akin to the films of Sam Peckinpah, but none of its characters echo Peckinpah's penchant for terrible men of private integrity. Those energized by Tarantino's characteristically eager display of effects and references may feel satisfied with what Hateful Eight is serving up, but I suspect that most of you will leave this multi-course meal of innards and chic bleakness feeling pretty empty.

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JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Everything here rolls out about how you'd expect, yet so little of it showcases what Tarantino is actually good at. Above all, that Tarantino knack for digression and general verbiage that made Inglourious Basterds such a pleasingly iconoclastic war movie is squandered here. If Tarantino loves language so much, then why does he resort to having his characters speak mostly in a potty-mouthed modern vernacular with broad accents? Would it not have been more fun and challengVUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

FILM 11

FILM FILM // YEAR IN REVIEW

Another list of the year's best films!

You love lists, right?

T

hree-hundred-sixty-five days and more than 150 films, whittled down to this. My list of best fictionfeatures for 2015 is only a magnificent seven because some contenders—Anomalisa, Carol, 45 Years, Son of Saul, Taxi—have yet to reach me.

Still, there was plenty of silver-screen satisfaction: an instant-classic Russian tragedy, a German chamber-piece, a batshit-crazy-awesome Aussiepocalypse blockbuster, and more ....

EURODYSSEYS Dark corners of Europe, blackened by corruption or ravaged by war: Leviathan (directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev) Perfectly paced and weighted, with impeccable camerawork from Mikhail Krichman, Zvyagintsev's masterpiece skates along the bleak grandeur of its implacable tragedy. Corruption in Putin's Russia seems as elemental as the Barents Sea's waves crashing ashore near a town where autocratic cronyism (a mobster-like mayor) and the Church combine forces to crush the common man.

Phoenix (Christian Petzold) A Vertigo-like swoon into a Berlin laid

12 FILM

waste by the war. Its high-note ending is mesmerizing—a near-hallucinatory epiphany for one character just as another drifts away, never to return.

A meta-acting allegory—super-staractress Nina Hoss' mask strained to the breaking point—of denial, memory and acceptance in post-war Germany.

MAKING TRACKS Women—Imperator Furiosa, leading a desert-caravan escape, then sandstorming a citadel to take power; young Jay Height, dropped into the depths of a nightmare—steer these thrill-rides: Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) A delirious, then grrls-gonzo-wild vision of a hellscape wagon-train ride.

Has apocalypse ever been shown on screen so riotously or grinningly, and as such a rock-and-rollicking rampage?

It Follows (David Robert Mitchell) The deathly Detroit drift and steadily tracking viral creep of this teen-sexterror film lingers, and ebbs, and seeps, and pools along the pavement of its wide-screen streets. And those tracking, tracking, tracking shots ...

HERSTORY, '60s HISTORY AND AN ALTERNATE TOKE ON THE '70s

A male director showcases only the female of the species; a woman director reframes one of her nation's most famous leading men. And an unseen woman, Sortilège, narrates the story of private dick Doc Sportello: The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland) This sinuous, arty chamber-piece melds '70s Eurotica, the Gothic-domestic and a coolly scientific eye. A lesbian relationship's pinioned down for our prismatic gaze amid stickpinned butterflies, moths fluttering through the frame, and even a silent Siamese cat. Idiosyncratic sexuality's expressed in scripted, repetitive power-games; strange desires and hallucinations flicker beneath a splendid façade of civility. Love, caught between the rote and the ritualized.

Selma (Ava DuVernay) This discussion-laden, crowd-swollen chronicle of Martin Luther King's hard-fought, searingly painful victory in Alabama—negotiations, protests, marches, deaths—shows the breadth of his movement, a collective endeavour unwavering in its staunch selfbelief. Anchored in a rich portrayal of King by David Oyelowo; the chorus of

Mad Max: Fury Road

voices here rises on a swell of indignation, opposition, and belated triumph.

Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson) A patchouli patchwork-narrative, this fun-show's as much a PT Barnum Anderson joint as a tall PI-tale taken with a Pynchon-of-salt (and an assortment of much trippier seasonings). Seventies stoner-noir, California driftin' along on a voiceover t owards some kind of hopeless-romantic ending ... "It doesn't mean we're back together." "Of course not."

HONOURABLE MENTION Sicario's indictment of—and hellish immersion in—the super-macho war on drugs; the explosive political force of action-thriller '71; Winter Sleep, with

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

all its toxic male pride and imperiousness; Force Majeure, where family is a wire-crossed network of conflicting signals and impulses; Celtic fairy tale Song of the Sea, with its curls of charm and wisps of enchantment; therapyadventure-quest Inside Out, especially for its celebration of commiseration; the bestial, Bedlam bogscape of a Russia-allegory in which Hard to Be a God mucks about; The Tribe (imagine Helen Keller directing a post-Soviet Lord of the Flies-meets-The Outsiders); the subdued '81 NYC epic A Most Violent Year. Special Award for Film Score: Atticus Ross' aural disorientations and dislocations for mad-music-genius biopic Love & Mercy.

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

MUSIC

MUSIC EDITOR: meaghan baxter meaghan@vueweekly.com

MUSIC // YEAR IN REVIEW

The sounds of 2015

A look back at what we had on repeat this year

a

nother year in the books means it's time to look back on the swath of albums released in the past 365 days. Our writers have compiled their top-five favourites of 2015.

Shawn Bernard: Father John Misty / I Love You, Honeybear / (Sub Pop) What can be said about this album that literally every music critic on earth hasn't agreed with? OK, here's something: I gave a copy of this album to a girl that I've been seeing over the past couple of weeks—she loved it—specifically the song "The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt," where Tillman goes on about how much he hates the woman he's seeing. I would have hoped she would have went for the really romantic one at the end, "I Went To The Store One Day," in which he describes how he met his wife, but I guess I can't have everything.

Grimes / Art Angels / (4AD) I feel like this album destroyed any remaining notion I that I might ever put out a record. I've always kind of thought I might just pick up a guitar in my 30s and really get it, you know, like really get it. Claire Boucher makes me think that I've missed an evolutionary step. It's so damn good. I can't do that.

Destroyer / Poison Season / (Pod/ Inertia) Dan Bejar is like the really cool comp-lit prof you get in third-year university. He walks around with the posture of a guy who's looked right into the face of God and decided it wasn't for him—probably knows a lot of cool shit about postpunk new wave. If you get an A+ in his class it will not be accompanied by any comments. Poison Season is an odd experience. It's a wonderful album, but you know there was more back there—similar to how I still think about Ridley Scott's The Counselor all the time.

Tobias Jesso Jr / Goon / (Arts & Crafts) Goon is Jesso's debut album. Listening to it, you can't help but wonder if Randy Newman found a way to inhabit the body of a hip North Vancouverite. He sings about things you hope you'll never experience.

That's not meant to be glib—there is no cool rock 'n' roll burnout shit.

His music is beautiful and terribly sad. You don't really notice it at first, but by the end you're staring into the middle distance thinking about a girl you dated six years ago.

He's got great hair, too.

Courtney Barnett / Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit / (Marathon Artists) Barnett's lyrics and delivery are perhaps the most thoughtful and provoking of any on my list. She comes through so intimately in her music that I would probably have an unpredictable emotional breakdown if I met her. You immediately buy into the world of each song.

She really holds nothing back. The album's central track, "Depreston," is the most heartbreaking song ever written about real estate. If you don't feel connected to this album, congrats, your life is perfect.

Lane Bertholet: Between the Buried and Me / Coma Ecliptic / (Metal Blade) Coma Ecliptic is definitely Between the Buried and Me in sharp form, technically and creatively, delving deeper into psychedelic, labyrinth instrumentals and pushing Tommy Rogers' fantastic and bizarre vocal range to the forefront. While Coma Ecliptic isn't the prog-metal group's best record, it's the most cohesive as a concept record, and a beautifully layered showcase of each member's talents individually—and as a unit. It's a gripping listen from start to finish—and another gem in a well-seasoned catalogue.

Clutch / Psychic Warfare / (Weathermaker Music) I'm a sucker for a great rock record.

Clutch never fails to deliver, following up 2013's Earth Rocker with another tasty piece of riff-driven rock 'n' roll in Psychic Warfare. The foggy stoner jams are custom-built for Neil Fallon's bluesy croon, his clever lyricism penciling vivid and surrealistic imagery into the soundscape. Jean Paul Gaster's sneakily technical rhythms are always a treat to tap along to, while Tim Sult's throwback picking will have you cracking a beer in no time.

Deafheaven / New Bermuda / (ANTI) San Francisco's Deafheaven turned many a head with its 2013 release, Sunbather, reaching a level of commercial success that's not exactly expected from a black-metal record. 2015's New Bermuda continues where the former left off, seeing Deafheaven embrace its thrash-metal roots and conjure a darker tone in its music. New Bermuda is evidence of a band that has matured with every release and reached yet another high point in its career, creating a thunderous piece of genre-bending metal that's not to be missed.

Intronaut / The Direction of Last Things / (Century Media) The collective talent of Sacha Dunable, Dave Timnick, Danny

Walker and Joe Lester is almost frightening as they create another sprawling, psychedelic opus with The Direction of Last Things. Recorded in a live setting, the album captures an energy and mood not found on Intronaut's past releases.

The intense combinations of rhythm and syncopation are textured with an endless array of guitar-driven effects and grunge-stained vocals— providing a deep, expansive listen each and every spin.

Baroness / Purple / (Abraxan Hymns) Where 2012's Yellow and Green marked a crossroads for the Georgia-based outfit, Purple illustrates a band that has come full circle, capturing the raw heaviness of earlier recordings while embracing its technical capabilities and its love of alt-rock style. The first recording to feature bassist/keyboardist Nick Jost and drummer Sebastian Thompson, Purple embodies the attitude of a band reborn.

Paul Blinov: Braids / Deep in the Iris / (Arbutus) A personal-intersects-the-political record that manages to offer both defiance and vulnerability in its lyrics and strength and space in its music. These are sounds of a band reaching a new level. Key tracks: "Miniskirt," "Taste."

Sleater-Kinney / No Cities to Love / (Sub Pop) An early January ass-kick that didn't lessen in impact over the year's subsequent months. No Cities to Love marked a incredibly welcome return for the Olympia-created trio.

Key tracks: "A New Wave," "Fade."

Blur / The Magic Whip / (Parlophone) Another welcome return: a reunited Blur, Graham Coxon in tow, managed to capture the strange sense of wonder and isolation of passing through unfamiliar territory with skill. It packs the ambitious ideas of Damon Albarn's latterday projects into rockband framework, making the latter feel limitless. Key tracks: "There Are Too Many of Us," "Ong Ong." Peaches / Rub / (I U She Music) Loud, proud and unafraid to shout down idiots while it celebrates the self, Rub finds shape under dimly lit beats and grimy, throbbing synths.

It also features what's easily one of the best lines of the year: "Whose jizz is this?" Key tracks: "Dumb Fuck," "Sick In The Head."

Young Fathers / White Men Are Black Men Too / (BIG DaDa) This album is wild. Spacious but massive, carved out of thick slabs of melody, synth, joyful declaration, political sensitivity and all

VUEWEEKLY.com/music Online exclusive: Local musicians weigh in on 2015 and Silent Line chats about its latest album, Shattered Shores.

delivered in abrasive, challenging production-gauze. White Men Are Black Men Too finds the Scottish experimental hip-hop/pop trio set on making a play for TV on the Radio's crown, but in firmly weirder terms. Key tracks: "Still Running," "Get Started."

Lee Boyes: Alabama Shakes / Sound & Color /(ATO) The best part of this record is how totally out-of-left-field it seems.

When faced with its "sophomore release," not only was Alabama Shakes able to avoid simply rehashing its grungy southern sound, the band proved that its members are artists of impressive scope and daring so early in the group's major-label career. Brittany Howard's Joplin-esque squall will always take centre stage, but the recordings themselves are gentle, creating lo-fi analog tones that not only remind us of the past but bring hope to the future.

TV on the Radio / Seeds / (Harvest) TV on the Radio is in love! At least that's the impression you get from these 12 tracks, where the word itself seems to be mentioned in pretty much every song. The theme is plied to the band's own distinct brand of fuzzed-out, harmonious electro-rock glory. No strange new innovations or repetitive rehashing, just the next step for a group that seems brave enough to keep evolving on its own terms.

Concealer / fêted:fetid / (Independent) There's definite perks to this job— the biggest being the occasional arrival of echo locations that might otherwise never pass your sonar.

Edmonton's Concealer is a splendid example of this. The duo's bassdriven ambient distortion paints an atmosphere that slowly pulls you in, in the most comforting discomfort you can't begin to imagine.

Slow and simple, the structure rarely deviates yet manages to become engrossing through its gentle melodic overcast.

Refused / Freedom / (Epitaph) Resurrected Refused explode on an LP for the first time since redefining a genre. The bulk of it picks up where Shape of Punk to Come (1998) left off, with slight variations of the breakdowns, thrash and throat-shredding screams that eventually became legend. Freedom is concise and peppered with interesting moments of pop. It's a savage little listen for those who just can't get enough of the forerunners of Swedish hardcore.

VUEWEEKLY.com | dec 31, 2015 – jan 6, 2016

Jason Isbell / Something More Than Free / (Southeastern) The throughline is still one of common gravitas and heartbreak, and these 11 songs do what Isbell does best: weave compelling narratives of the blue-collar blues over fairly plain guitar melodies while his southern drawl draws us in. Living more in an unplugged world than on previous releases, the fact remains that as a songwriter Isbell is still head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries.

Josef Braun: Alabama Shakes / Sound & Color / (ATO) Muscular, dynamic and often well into the red, Alabama Shakes shake off the throwback tag with Sound & Color, using southern rock and soul—not to mention dustier corners of Prince's catalogue—as an endlessly pliable vernacular, a platform upon which to hurtle headlong into ecstatic pleas, tight rhythmic figure-eights, disarmingly intimate coos and fiery declarations of satisfaction. We should all be so lucky as to know what it is to be loved as wildly as Brittany Howard appears to love the addressee of these songs—though I suspect it may cause injuries.

Julia Holter / Have You in My Wilderness / (Domino) Claps, whispers, peculiar time signatures. So many desires expressed just in "Feel You:" to travel, to run from sun, to fall, to arrive excusably late to some Mexico City gathering. Los Angeles' Julia Holter slips like liquid between several curious predilections, musical and otherwise. As playful, foxy and exotic as Laurie Anderson, as odd in her emphasis as Nico, Holter can have me in her wilderness any day. That birdcall-and-response second half of "Lucette Stranded on the Island," superimposing a childhood home on a new beach, is perplexing and deliriously sticky. Abandonment as romance.

Ibeyi / Ibeyi / (XL) Cuban-born Parisian twins Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz are the daughters of the late Buena Vista conguero Miguel "Anga" Diaz. Their debut is intimate and quietly danceable, a careful fusion of Afro-Cuban traditions with the spare, spectral end of electronica, incorporating piano, samples, percussion and the twins' lovely singing of lyrics in both English and Yoruban that express fierce desire in tranquil tones and spiritual exaltation with choral joy. A beguiling debut that entices with future possibilities.

Jim O'Rourke / Simple Songs / (Drag City) Pop-baroque layers spill forth with vertiginous beauty in the chorus of music 13

MUSIC "Friends With Benefits," the opener on Jim O'Rourke's latest excursion as a solo artist, which frequently sings of the past creeping into the present. The weariness of O'Rourke's lyrics and increasingly gravelly vocals are, however, not mirrored in Simple Songs' exhilaratingly concise arrangements and adventures in harmony, which can somehow recall Doobie Brothers ("Half Life Crisis"), of all things, and still seduce, while the magnificent final track's insistence that "all your love will never change me" lights upon some impossibly perfect balance of bitterness and release. Gorgeous.

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14 MUSIC

Max Richter / From Sleep / (Deutsche Grammophon) Lifelong insomnia led me to Sleep—but I stayed awake for the celestial bliss. Actually, it turns out that From Sleep, the one-hour version of Max Richter's lullaby for strings, voice and electronics, which I purchased, was meant for waking life and it's the eight-hour version that's meant for sleeping.

Dang. Anyway, it's exquisite, at first not laying but lifting you heavenward on the delicate wings of Grace Davidson's soprano; only later does the wooded breath of a cello usher in more earthly textures. Music to dream to, whether awake or asleep.

Wilco / Star Wars / (dBpm) Skronky, angular and super-taut— the whole thing clocks in at just over 33 minutes—the 11 songs on Wilco's 11th studio record hit a sweet spot between the sound of old pros knocking out avant-rock ditties and mature artists delivering precision-tuned blasts of humour and heartfelt joy. From the shimmery slow-burn cacophony of "Your Satellite" to the ready-to-pounce strut of "Cold Slope" and "King of You," this is the blazingly diverse sound of an ever-curious band in firm-enough control of its powers to know when to let it off the leash.

Chris Gee: Bully / Feels Like / (Startime/Columbia) Bully's debut album is full of '90sinspired pop-rock melodies with the perfect amount of ennui and spunk. Leader Alicia Bognanno goes from sandpapery whispers to fiery yells in an instant, with fuzzy guitars and jaunty drums following suit. Feels Like is a witty, angsty and scathingly catchy record.

Ought / Sun Coming Down / (Constellation) Ought's second album in two years is an austere but transcending piece of jubilant post-punk mastery. Vocalist Tim Darcy is a fidgety talksinger, enunciating his words in an erratic bark while the rest of the band loosely teeters into a chaotic, hypnotizing groove. The band's sense of build and release between anxiety and frenzy makes Ought one of the most exciting groups today.

Julien Baker / Sprained Ankle / (6131) Sprained Ankle is an intense, ca-

thartic affair. Baker's words are overwhelmingly potent—she's desperate, wounded, in love and innocent. She sings in a wavering, unsure voice that gains confidence and eventually develops into a cleansing wail. The 19-year-old songwriter pours her heart over clean and spacey guitar—she's unafraid of letting it all out, and it's incredibly compelling.

Sleater-Kinney / No Cities To Love / (Sub Pop) Ten years since The Woods, Sleater-Kinney picks up where it left off, wasting no time ripping through massive, urgent, hook-laden rock music. Every sound from the veteran power trio's latest is essential— from Corin Tucker's and Carrie Brownstein's duelling guitar licks and bratty vocals to drummer Janet Weiss' pummelling beats.

Sufjan Stevens / Carrie & Lowell / (Asthmatic Kitty) Sufjan Stevens' latest, named after his mother and stepfather, explores love, death, regret and forgiveness, resulting in his most straightforward, intimate album yet. Gone are the make-believe narratives and orchestral arrangements—this is Stevens liberating the struggles of his childhood with little more than a guitar and the ghosts of his past tracing his intentions of closure.

Jordyn Marcellus: Grimes / Art Angels / (4AD) Claire Boucher famously scrapped her first attempt at a follow-up to Art Angels after finding it "too depressing"—and we're better off for it. Art Angels is a tremendous album that takes the hyperkinetic world of pop and distills it into a powerful blast of danceable—if occasionally disturbing—music as on "Kill V. Main" or "Flesh Without Blood."

Buffy Sainte-Marie / Power in the Blood / (True North) There's a reason why Sainte-Marie won the Polaris Prize for Power In The Blood. The personal is the political on the venerable singersongwriter's latest album on True North Records, a release that's meant to inspire and empower a generation of young indiginous people who, as Sainte-Marie sings on "Song Of Our Own" will "remain Idle No More."

U.S. Girls / Half Free / (4AD) Meg Remy's most recent album is full of stories of women living in situations that, as the album title alludes to, aren't free. Remy's wideranging sensibilities—including gnarled guitar rock on "Sed Knife" and austere avant-garde on "Red Comes In Many Shades"—are on full display, providing a textured album that zigs and zags in gloriously unexpected ways.

Braids / Deep In The Iris / (Arbutus) Calgary-Montréal trio Braids has released another stunning work.

This one is marked by a lyrical turn focused on powerful feminist

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

themes, as heard on "Miniskirt," coupled with a slightly sunnier instrumentation than the band's made on previous albums. Deep In The Iris as one of the best Braids albums in the band's already fantastic discography. belle / adhd / (Independent) Toronto rapper-singer belle capped off her trilogy of self-released EPs with adhd, a combination of inward-looking R&B and rap. The 30-minute, 11-track EP shows off the wide range of belle's musical skills, spitting fire on the playful opener "The Run" then cooing melancholically on the gentle "Never Change."

James Stewart: Royal Headache / High / (What's Your Rupture) High is like one of those viruses kept in cold storage in state-of-theart facilities with steel doors and solemn-looking scientists. Every single person exposed to this damn record has gone totally crazy for it, and I have probably listened to it once a day since I was first turned on to it.

At first blush it doesn't even seem that remarkable, but the vocalist— known only as Shaolin—creates such excitement over the span of a half-hour that by the time you get to the end you really have no choice but to start back at the beginning. Snotty, soulful and everything I love about punk-rock melodic chaos distilled into one powerhouse album.

Radioactivity / Silent Kill / (Dirtnap) After releasing its essentially perfect self-titled debut in 2013, Radioactivity returned this year with Silent Kill. Immediately more abrasive than it's predecessor, Kill also suffers from being less immediate.

The songs are there, though; it just takes longer for the hooks to bury themselves deep in your brain.

Radioactivity straddles the line between power-pop and pop-punk with the expert precision honed by Jeff Burke (guitar/vocals) and Mark Ryan's (bass) many years in the Marked Men. Alessandro Cortini / Forse 3 / (Important) The third and final album in his Forse trilogy, Cortini again manages to coax incredible depth from his Buchla Music Easel synthesizer.

Melodies ebb and recede throughout, many referencing previous passages in the series. Limiting himself to one instrument, Cortini has found incredible sonic detail in the repetitions and manipulations of simple patterns to create something far larger than should be possible. Ambient passages give way to cold and blurry grooves throughout.

Unwound / Empire Box Set / (Kill Rock Stars) The fourth and final box in Numero Group's incredible and expansive Unwound reissue series, Empire contains Unwound's sprawling

Jasmine Salazar: Father John Misty / I Love You, Honeybear / (Sub Pop) While the album title evokes excessive romantics, the record is far from being twee. Instead, Josh Tillman uses candour—on the title track, Tillman croons: "Mascara, blood, ash and cum on the Rorschach sheets where we make love"—sardonicism and poetic imagery to depict real love, complications and all. Across its 11 tracks is an honesty that can sometimes offend, but there can be forgiveness when it's coupled with heavenly harmonies, mariachi horns and snarling guitars. Tillman is wearing his heart on his sleeve here, but we can appreciate this voyeurism into a relationship that perfectly sums up modern-day love.

Tame Impala / Currents / (Interscope) Automatically upon first listen of Currents, you'll will notice the absence of fuzzed-out guitars for a psych-pop-rock-disco sound that is drenched in melancholy—good melancholy that you can dance to. Though the Australian-based group has deviated from its ar-

Curtis Wright: Leon Bridges / Coming Home / (Columbia) On first listen, it's fair to confuse this album for a Best of 1962. With a voice so stylish, smooth, spiritual and eerily similar, it wouldn't be far off to think a batch of Sam Cooke soul-filled B-sides unearthed themselves. Recorded straight to tape with members of swirly rockers White Denim, Fort Worth Texas' Leon Bridges circles an old-soul era so well that there's hope for us and our music yet.

Rather than depend on studio gimmickry, Bridges relies on simplicity for the best of the year.

Father John Misty / I Love You, Honeybear / (Sub Pop) Who in music doesn't want to write a love song? Josh Tillman does and doesn't all in one tremendous album's honest and confessional sparkle. With unashamed sarcasm at moments, subtle, invisible mockery at others, Father John Misty's wildly clever second album—about society, about falling in love, about getting married and the doldrums within—swims in incredibly lush '70s melodies and barroom ambience. With sounds so gorgeous his ridicule of love's great institution is a spotless ode to the existential jumble of life.

Kendrick Lamar / To Pimp a Butterfly / (Interscope/Aftermath) Simply put, To Pimp a Butterfly is everything a rap album should aim to be, and quite likely, a lot of what rap will be going forward (we can hope, right?). It is a dense homage—a great service to the philosophical awe music can leave us in and a compressed tribute to what lyrics can do. It's a great perspective that ripples over headscratching, spacey funk and layered beats. It is territorial. For the city of Compton and Kendrick Lamar's personal crusade, of course, but it's also inherently protective of the rap flag Lamar holds. We

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DARRIN ROSE JAN 15 & 16

FRI JAN 29

Ratatat / Magnifique / (XL) Ratatat's fifth studio album is laden with the ethos of yesteryear, revisiting the sounds of its first and second albums, Ratatat and Classics, respectively, with a return to the duo's rudiments of distorted guitars and rock-tronica ("Cream on Chrome"). This is a band honed in its genre, so any experimentation is temporary here, with the exception of some flirtation with steel guitars and surfrockedelia on "Supreme." But what Magnifique lacks in inventiveness, it makes up with its groove.

Erykah Badu / But You Caint Use My Phone (Mixtape) / (Universal) 2015 was the year of Drake's "Hotline Bling" with artists from Justin Bieber to Sufjan Stevens and Erykah Badu covering the track.

But it was Badu who reimagined it further, experimenting with an entire telephone-themed mixtape that involves the reconstruction of other artists' songs, including Usher's "U Don't Have To Call," the Isley Brothers' "Hello, It's Me" and New Edition's "Mr Telephone Man." Reworking other artists' songs can be damaging, but not here. Each track on the album comes out more novel than the original, thanks to Queen Badu's bad-assery and keen musicality.

are witnessing the greatest rapper of his generation, and this album deserves your immediate attention.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats / Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats / (Stax) Blown up by Jimmy Fallon days before a wildly raucous and inspired Edmonton Folk Music Festival Sunday-afternoon set, Nathaniel Rateliff's foray into the world of soul dabbles in as much Otis Redding as it does CCR; as much Van Morrison as Booker T & the MGs. It's as much old soul as it is a contemporary take on the blues; a folk band wrapped in '70s AM radio. Being the benefactor of a live performance quickly after "S.O.B." hit Fallon, and subsequently spoiled that song for pure fans, allowed Edmontonians to see firsthand how the passion of Rateliff and the Night Sweats' debut album translates into an incredible live animal.

Alabama Shakes / Sound & Color / (ATO) On first listen, Alabama Shakes nearly disillusion the listener with its second album. It's so unlike the throwback atmosphere of Boys & Girls, maybe even too disparate.

But after attention is given, it's truly a planetary thing. Sound & Color is the era-driven things the band's first album offered, built on a vastly satisfying and mystical footing. It's not everyday that a band takes a surprising and sonic 180 on its sophomore record and lands it so well, but beautiful and strange Sound & Color most certainly is. Transformation can sound this good.

SAT JAN 16

Maki Asakawa / Maki Asakawa / (Honest Jon's) Another reissue on my list, Honest Jon's Records gathers a hefty pile of Japanese singer Maki Asakawa's recorded output and releases a compilation under her own name.

The material spans the many genres she worked in—Lynchian jazz, psych-tinged blues, dark folk, reworked standards and more.

Her voice is alternately smoky and haunting, and the music veers from the campy to moody to cinematic. Powerful stuff.

chetypal fuzzy guitar sound, the change signals that the group is more versatile than one might have thought they would be. As for fans that are pained by the new sound, get over it. People change.

FRI FEB 12

2001 swan song, Leaves Turn Inside You. A self-recorded double album, Leaves marks the transformation of the band from posthardcore stalwarts into anythinggoes visionaries. The making of the record proved to eventually be too much for the group to endure, and it called it quits shortly after.

The set includes 1998's Challenge for a Civilized Society, along with the usual pile of singles/demos/Bsides, all well worth a listen. It's also a rare instance where the remastering job actually brings about significant improvement on the admittedly ragged original release.

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MUSIC 15

MUSIC

WEEKLY

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

THU DEC 31

DRAFT COUNTRY NIGHTCLUB

New Year's celebration featuring Roger West; 8pm; $42.50 (all night dinner & dance), $30 (dinner only), $15 (dance only; adv), $20 (door); No minors DRUID IRISH PUB The Druid

New Year's Eve Party; 9pm; $10

9910 NYE Spectacular with The Wet Secrets & Switches (Switches "All My Darlings" tape release); 9pm (doors); $30

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

APEX CASINO VEE Banquet

ice skating and food concessions with fireworks; 9:15pm • City Hall: Kids' crafts and activities, magicians, balloon artists, face painters and live music; 7pm • Free, non-alcoholic event

Room: New Year’s Eve Country Countdown with Colleen Rae & Cornerstone.

Featuring a full buffet, and a late lunch; 6:30pm; $99 each • VEE Lounge: Rock In Nye; featuring entertainment, and full buffet; 6:30pm; $75 each ATLANTIC TRAP & GILL Duff

Robison; 9:30pm BAILEY THEATRE The Bailey

Theatre Society presents: New Year's Eve Party - Ryan Lindsay and The River Jacks; 8pm; $30 (adv), $35 (door) BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

New Year's Eve featuring Bobby Cameron; 9pm; $50 and up BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Derina Harvey (celtic/folk/ rock); 9pm EDMONTON DOWNTOWN CHURCHILL SQUARE: Music,

THE FORT LOUNGE Gary

Thomas with Mooney's Bay; 9pm; No cover ($10 ticket for light snacks/desserts with champagne) HELLENIC HALL New

Years Eve 2016 Party featuring Hellenic Canadian Community of Edmonton & Region; 8pm; ADV: $70 (members), $80 (nonmembers); DOOR: $90, $50 (after 11:30pm), $25 (6-12 years old); All ages

to Ol’ Blue Eyes; 9:30pm; $45 RAMADA EDMONTON HOTEL

An evening full of Turkish music, dance and more; 7pm RED PIANO Las Vegas New Years Eve theme party; $175 (dinner & show), $55 (show only) RENDEZVOUS PUB New Years

Masquerade Ball with Bad Communicators, Medical Pilot, Eastern Skies; 8pm (door), 9pm (show); $10 (adv), $15 (door) RIVER CREE Featuring

The Fab Four (adult contemporary/rock); 6pm & 10pm; $39.50 (all tickets and packages are final sale) ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE

Mayday and the Beatcreeps on New Years Eve; 8pm; $20; No minors SANDS HOTEL Hurtin for

New Years with Bev Munro (country); $55 per person (includes meal, champagne and late night snack); No minors; 6pm (buffet meal), 8pm (dance) SHERLOCK HOLMES– DOWNTOWN Andrew Scott

(alternative/country); 9pm SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

Adam Holm (folk/pop); 9pm

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

rotation plus residents Echo and Justin Foosh

FRI JAN 1

ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce Grove DJ every Fri

BLUES ON WHYTE Sam

THE PROVINCIAL PUB Friday

Fri; 9pm

Spades; 9pm BOURBON ROOM Dueling

pianos every Fri Night with Jared Sowan and Brittany Graling; 8pm 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 BRIXX BAR Repriza Nove Godine; 8pm (doors), 9pm (show); $35; 18+ only THE BUCKINGHAM Sights and Sounds (exclusive Canadian date) with guests Abandin All Hope, and Point Place; 7pm; $20 (adv); 18+ only CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK The

Ramifications; 8pm CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Live

music every Fri; all ages; 7pm; $5 (door) DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

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

featuring a performance by the Rojo's. Other events include: New Year's Eve Toast and Stay and a New Year's Eve buffet CASINO EDMONTON New

Year's Eve with Oil City Sound Machine; 6-8pm; band starts at 9pm; $85 (per person) CASINO YELLOHEAD New

Year's Eve with 5 on the Side; 6-8pm; band starts at 9pm; $85 (per person) CENTURY CASINO Kenny

Shields and Streetheart (blues/pop/R&B); 8:30pm; $119.95 (dinner & show), 79.95 (show only)

northlands.com

16 MUSIC

BLUES ON WHYTE Every Sat afternoon: Jam with Back Door Dan; Later: Sam Spades; 9pm BOURBON ROOM Live

HILLTOP PUB Open Stage,

Jam every Sat; 3:30-7pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

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

STARLITE ROOM UBK

NYE 2015: featuring 4 headliners; 9pm; $25-$40; 18+ only

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

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

MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Thu and Fri DJ and

MERCURY ROOM Silent Line

New Years 2016: featuring resident DJs Ed, Jodi, Nasty and Iceman; 6pm (doors), 7pm (dinner), 9pm (party); $90 (full dinner service with reserved VIP seating), $30 (standing room party); No minors

SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM

LB'S PUB Rock in 2016

UNION HALL Back to the Countdown NYE 2016 featuring DJ Grizzand DJ Tyco; 8pm; $19.90 and up; No minors

RANCH ROADHOUSE Never

with ChillFactor; 7-9pm (dinner), 9:30pm (dance); $65 (dinner/dance), $25 (dance only) LEAF BAR & GRILL New Years

WESTIN EDMONTON Dance

RED PIANO BAR Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players every Fri; 9pm-2am

Eve with Sudden Discharge; 9:30pm; No cover; No minors MCDOUGALL CHURCH New

Year’s Eve benefit concert with live performances by: Gateway Festival City Fiddlers, Back Porch Swing, Ken Stead, Erin Kay, Ben Sures Trio, Le Fuzz, Mohsin Zaman, Maria Dunn Trio and much more; 7:30-10:30pm; Admission at the door with a non perishable food item or donation to the Edmonton Food bank MERCER TAVERN Y2K

New Year's at the Savoy: Picture New York, 1936.

Featuring vintage music, dancing from the swing era and much more; 8pm; $45 regular; discounts for students and members

to one of Edmonton’s finest DJs playing today’s top hits and popular Portuguese music; 5:30pm; $47-$90

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

CENTURY ROOM Lucky 7:

dance floor; 9:30pm NEW WEST HOTEL Trick

Ryder; 9pm ON THE ROCKS Live music

Say Die Tour featuring Zomboy (dance/DJ/ electronic) with Eptic and Habstrakt; 9pm; $25 (adv)

SHERLOCK HOLMES– DOWNTOWN Andrew Scott

TIRAMISU BISTRO Live

music every Fri WILD EARTH BAKERY– MILLCREEK Live Music

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

DELTA EDMONTON SOUTH HOTEL TOP OF THE INN: 16th

O'MAILLES IRISH PUB & EATERY NYE with Matt

ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce Grove DJ every Thu

Every Friday DJs on all three levels

Robertson; 8pm; No cover

FILTHY MCNASTY’S Taking

ON THE ROCKS Murder

Back Thursdays

City Sparrows, with Owls

by Nature and Jelly Bean; 9pm; $25

KRUSH ULTRA LOUNGE Open

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

ON THE ROCKS Salsa Rocks: every Thu; dance lessons at 8pm; Cuban Salsa DJ to follow UNION HALL 3 Four All

Ryder; 9pm O’BYRNE’S Live band every Sat, 3-7pm; DJ every Sat, 9:30pm ON THE ROCKS Live music ORLANDO'S 1 Bands

perform every week; $10 RED PIANO BAR Hottest

STARLITE ROOM The Epic

Doug Stroud (country/pop/ rock); 9pm

DJs

Simply Sinatra. The soulful sounds of Robert Young & his band as they pay tribute

every Sat NEW WEST HOTEL Trick

SHERLOCK HOLMES–WEM

Uncommon Thursday: Rotating Guests each week!

PALACE CASINO WEM

MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Live Local Bands

Adam Holm (folk/pop); 9pm

Ryder; 7pm

stage; 7pm; no cover

CD release with Ravage Red and Tides Of Kharon; 8pm; $10 (adv), $12 (door)

dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players every Sat; 9pm2am

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

NEW WEST HOTEL Trick

THE COMMON The Common

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

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

Years Eve with Drew Gregory live; black & white, dress to impress; 9pm (doors); $20

DENIZEN HALL New Years Eve with Royal Tusk, Thrillhouse and Norell; 8pm; $15 (adv), $20 (door); 18+ only

Hair of the Dog: this week with The Silkstones (live acoustic music every Sat); 4-6pm; no cover

Homemade Jam: Mike Chenoweth

Retro '80s with house DJ every Thu; 7pm-close

Annual Latin New Years; 5:30pm; $35 • Grand BALLROOM: Jazz New Years 2016; 6pm; $110

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

GAS PUMP Saturday

NYE Bash: featuring 90s genre music, dancing and champagne; 8pm; $5 after 11pm

COOK COUNTY SALOON New

SAT JAN 2

Afternoon Concerts; 4pm

Party: Prohibition NYE. Dress to impress. Featuring live music from Dahlia Wakefield and the Value Villians; $50 (adv; dinner & show), $25 (adv, no dinner)

CASINO New Year's Eve

Fridays

Open mic; 7pm; $2

BOURBON ROOM Theme

CAMROSE RESORT AND

Y AFTERHOURS Foundation

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Free

BOHEMIA Night Comfort NYE

7even; personal bottle of champagne and party favours for everyone; $1000 in cash and prizes to be drawn; 6pm (doors), 7pm (dinner), 9pm (show); $35 (dinner & show), $15 (show only)

UNION HALL Ladies Night

every Fri

Ramifications; 8pm

BLUES ON WHYTE Sam

CAFFREY'S-IN THE PARK

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

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Sat

Spades; 9pm

Eve: The Marriage of Mr. Buckingham; 7pm; $20

SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK The

Eve 2015; 7pm-midnight

THE BUCKINGHAM New Years

RED STAR Movin’ on Up: indie, rock, funk, soul, hip hop with DJ Gatto, DJ Mega Wattson; every Fri

CAFE BLACKBIRD Danielle Knibbe with Alex Vissia; 8pm; $10

BLUE CHAIR CAFE New Year's

Countdown to New Years 2016; 7pm; $20; No minors

Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJ Brodeep

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

Main Floor: The Velveteins & Fever Feel (live music) • Wooftop Lounge: Dig It Thursdays New Year's Eve Dance Party with DJs Yuri & Huck and guests; 7pm (doors), 10pm (show); $15 (access to all floors)

BRITTANY'S LOUNGE

DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Bash, Amy Voyer; 7:30pm (door), 8:30pm (show); $25 SNEAKY PETE'S Sinder

Sparks K-DJ Show; 9pm-1am YEG EVENT CENTRE TNT

(electronic) with Scopis and Wicked Science; 10pm; $25 (adv)

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: The Menace

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

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

THE COMMON Good Fridays:

THE BOWER For Those Who

THE BOWER Strictly Goods:

nu disco, hip hop, indie, electro, dance with weekly local and visiting DJs on

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

THE COMMON Get Down

It's Saturday Night: House and disco and everything in between with resident Dane DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every

Sat; 9pm ENCORE–WEM Every Sat:

Sound and Light show; We are Saturdays: Kindergarten

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 FILTHY MCNASTY'S Bring

Out Your Dead; 3-8pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

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 ROUGE RESTO-LOUNGE

Wong every Sat

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

Open Mic Night with Darrek Anderson from the Guaranteed; every Mon; 9pm

THE PROVINCIAL PUB

NEWCASTLE PUB The

SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A

MERCER TAVERN DJ Mikey

Saturday Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJ Maurice RED STAR Indie rock, hip hop, and electro every Sat with DJ Hot Philly and guests ROUGE LOUNGE Rouge Saturdays: global sound and Cosmopolitan Style Lounging with DJ Mkhai 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 TAVERN ON WHYTE Soul,

Motown, Funk, R&B and more with DJs Ben and Mitch; every Sat; 9pm-2am UNION HALL Celebrity Saturdays: every Sat hosted

by DJ Johnny Infamous Y AFTERHOURS Release

Saturdays

SUN JAN 3

Sunday Soul Service: acoustic open stage every Sun O’BYRNE’S Open mic every Sun; 9:30pm-1am

L.B.'S PUB Tue Variety Night Open stage with Darrell Barr; 7-11pm LEAF BAR AND GRILL Tue Open Jam: Trevor Mullen MERCER TAVERN Alt Tuesday with Kris Harvey and guests NEW WEST HOTEL Tue Country Dance Lessons: 7-9pm

Open Mic Night hosted by Adam Holm; Every Mon

O’BYRNE’S Celtic jam every Tue; with Shannon Johnson and friends; 9:30pm

SIDELINERS PUB Singer/

OVERTIME–Sherwood Park

Bingo Toonz every Tue

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

Songwriter Monday Night Open Stage; Hosted

by Celeigh Cardinal; Every Mon (except long weekends), 8:30-11:30pm; Free

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

Classical

DJs

SANDS HOTEL Country

WINSPEAR CENTRE Salute

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

to Vienna New Year's Concert; 2:30pm; $49.50$135

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Soul Sundays:

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

MON JAN 4 BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Blue Mondays with Jimmy and the Sleepers; 8-11pm BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 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)

Main Floor: Blue Jay’s Messy

Nest: mod, brit pop, new wave, British rock with DJ Blue Jay DV8 T.F.W.O. Mondays:

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

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

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ICEHOUSE Live music

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

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Brit Pop,

DV8 Creepy Tombsday:

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

WED JAN 6

CAFE BLACKBIRD Paint Nite;

hosted by Tim Lovett

7pm; $45

CAFE BLACKBIRD Paint Nite;

BLUE CHAIR CAFE Brunch

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY

7pm; $45

Wailin' Wednesdays Jam; Every Wed, 7:30pm; All ages

Monday open mic

DRUID IRISH PUB Open

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

Sun BBQ jam hosted with the Marshall Lawrence Band; 4pm BLACKJACK'S ROADHOUSE– Nisku Open mic every Sun

with PM Bossa; 10am-3pm; Cover by donations BLUES ON WHYTE Sam

Spades; 9pm DANCE CODE STUDIO

Flamenco Guitar Classes; Every Sun, 11:30am12:30pm DIVERSION LOUNGE Sun

BLUES ON WHYTE One

Percent; 9pm

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

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

Davidson Trio (jazz); 7pm; $13 (adv), $15 (door)

Stage Tue; 9pm JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

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

Dancing; Jan 5-10

B STREET BAR Live Music

with Lyle Hobbs; 8-11pm, every Wed BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

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 BLUES ON WHYTE King

Muskafa; 9pm

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY

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

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 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

W/ LOCAL GUEST DJ’S

JAN/9

OVERTIME–Sherwood Park

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

JAN/22

RED PIANO BAR Wed Night

JAN/23 JAN/28 JAN/29

THIEVERY COPORATION’S ROB GARZA

FEB/10

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

BILLY KENNY & WILL CLARKE TRIVIUM

W/ THE ORDER OF CHAOS & GUESTS

THE COMMON The Wed

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

THE MOOD MACHINE PRESENTS

UBK, NIGHT VISION, AND DIRTYBIRD PRESENT

BRIXX BAR Eats and Beats

RED STAR Guest DJs every Wed

ENFORCER & WARBRINGER

FEB/5

Main Floor: Alt '80s and

Experience: Classics on Vinyl with Dane

CONCERTWORKS.CA PRESENTS

W/ BETTER LIVING DJ’S, SWIM, DAN PEZIM

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE

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

FORT KNOX 5

W/ CAULDRON & EXMORTUS

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

UBK PRESENTS CELEBRATION OF FUNK

W/ FUNKANOMICS & MARTEN HORGER

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

LANDMARK EVENTS SHOWCASE STRIKER ALBUM RELEASE W/ GUESTS

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic Bluegrass

jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society; every Wed, 6:30-11pm; $2 (member)/$4 (non-member)

UBK NYE 2015 FEAT. TAIKI NULIGHT, HUGLIFE, SPACE JESUS, FLAVOURS

Dancing; Jan 5-10 ORIGINAL JOE'S VARSITY ROW Open mic Wed: Hosted

VENUEGUIDE 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, 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,

DEC/31

JUBILEE AUDITORIUM Dirty

ROSSDALE HALL Little

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

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

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

BRIXX Metal night every

Tue

BLUES ON WHYTE One

JUBILATIONS DINNER THEATRE Star Warz: A

Live: hosted by dueling piano players; 8pm-1am; $5

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

Percent; 9pm

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Wed open mic with host Duff Robison

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

TUE JAN 5 Tuesday Night Jam with host Harry Gregg and Geoffrey O'Brien; 8-11pm

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

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

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

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

MUSIC 17

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 • Paul Sveen; Jan 8-9 • Tom Liske; Jan 14-16

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

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

18 at the back

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

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

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

TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY (TOPS)

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

• 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

Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Information Night • Habitat for

Toastmasters

Humanity Prefab Shop, 14135-128 Ave • 780.451.3416 ext. 236 • vbatten@ hfh.org • hfh.org/volunteer/vin • Learn about taking the next steps and what opportunities are available at Habitat for Humanity • Jan 21, 6-7pm (Every 3rd Thu of the month, excluding Dec) • Free

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

• Club Bilingue Toastmasters Meetings:

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

2nd Fl, Canada Place Rm 217, 9700 Jasper Ave; Carisa: divdgov2014_15@outlook. com, 780.439.3852; fabulousfacilitators. toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 12:05-1pm • N'Orators Toastmasters Club: Lower Level, McClure United Church, 13708-74 St: meet every Thu, 6:45-8:30pm; 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

• deepsoul.ca • Combining music, garage sales, nature, common sense, and kindred karma to revitalize the inward persona • Every Wed, 7-8:30pm

• 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)

Sherwood Park Walking Group + 50 • Meet inside Millennium Place,

Seeing is above All • Acacia Hall,

Sherwood Place • Weekly outdoor walking group; starts with a 10-min discussion,

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

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

Evolution Wonderlounge • 10220-103 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 • Campus-based 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 femaleidentified 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)

VUEWEEKLY.com | dec 31, 2015 – jan 6, 2016

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, 10326118 St; bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca; Every Thu, 7pm; $30 (full season), $15 (low income or students) • Equal, Fit, Fierce, and Fabulous: Pride Centre, 10608-105 Ave; pridecentreofedmonton.org/calendar; Drop in games and activities for youth; Every other Tue, 4:30-6pm

WOMONSPACE • 780.482.1794 • womonspace.org, womonspace@gmail.com • A Non-profit lesbian social organization for Edmonton and surrounding area. Monthly activities, newsletter, reduced rates included with membership. Confidentiality assured

Woodys Video Bar • 11723 Jasper Ave • 780.488.6557 • Sun: Last Sun each month, Woodys Jam Session with the talented regular customers; Jugs of Canadian or Kokanee only $13 • Mon: Massive Mondays features talented comedians • Tue: Domestic bottle beer special only $3.75 all night long • Wed: Jugs of Canadian and Kokanee for $13; Karaoke with Shirley from 7pm-12:30am • Thu: Highballs on special only $3.75 all night long; Karaoke with Bubbles 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

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

Malanka: Ukrainian New Year Celebration • Ukrainian Centre, 11018-97 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 dedicated to 125 years of Ukrainian settlement in Alberta 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

classifieds

ALBERTA-WIDE CLASSIFIEDS •• auctions ••

To Book Your Classified, Contact Valerie at 780.426.1996 or at classifieds@vueweekly.com 1600.

Volunteers Wanted

Community Leaders In Waste Reduction Complete a free, 40-hour course.

Learn about composting, recycling & more.

Volunteer at least 35 hours.

Show friends & family how to reduce waste.

Apply at edmonton.ca/mcrp.

2005.

Artist to Artist

ENJOY ART ALWAYZ www.bdcdrawz.com

2020.

Guitarists, bassists, vocalists, pianists and drummers needed for good paying teaching jobs.

Please call 780-901-7677

3100. Appliances/Furniture Old Appliance Removal Removal of unwanted appliances. Must be outside or in your garage.

Rates start as low as $30.

Call James @780.231.7511 for details

7020.

2020.

Musicians Wanted

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FREEWILLASTROLOGY ARIES (MAR 21 – APR 19): John Koenig is an artist who invents new words. Here's one that's applicable to your journey in 2016: "keyframe." Koenig defines it as being a seemingly mundane phase of your life that is in fact a turning point. Major plot twists in your big story arrive half-hidden amidst a stream of innocuous events. They don't come about through "a series of jolting epiphanies," Koenig says, but rather "by tiny imperceptible differences between one ordinary day and the next." In revealing this secret, I hope I've alerted you to the importance of acting with maximum integrity and excellence in your everyday routine.

TAURUS (APR 20 – MAY 20): The coming months look like one of the best times ever for your love life. Old romantic wounds are finally ready to be healed.

You'll know what you have to do to shed tired traditions and bad habits that have limited your ability to get the spicy sweetness you deserve. Are you up for the fun challenge? Be horny for deep feelings. Be exuberantly aggressive in honouring your primal yearnings.

Use your imagination to dream up new approaches to getting what you want. The innovations in intimacy that you initiate in the coming months will keep bringing you gifts and teachings for years to come.

GEMINI (MAY 21 – JUN 20): In ancient times, observers of the sky knew the difference between stars and planets. The stars remained fixed in their places. The planets wandered around, always shifting positions in relationship to the stars. But now and then, at

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irregular intervals, a very bright star would suddenly materialize out of nowhere, stay in the same place for a while, and then disappear. Chinese astronomers called these "guest stars." We refer to them as supernovae. They are previously dim or invisible stars that explode, releasing tremendous energy for a short time. I suspect that in 2016, you may experience the metaphorical equivalent of a guest star. Learn all you can from it. It'll provide teachings and blessings that could feed you for years.

CANCER (JUN 21 – JUL 22): Be alert for an abundance of interesting lessons in 2016. You will be offered teachings about a variety of practical subjects, including how to take care of yourself really well, how to live the life you want to live and how to build the connections that serve your dreams. If you are even moderately responsive to the prompts and nudges that come your way, you will become smarter than you thought possible. So just imagine how savvy you'll be if you ardently embrace your educational opportunities. (Please note that some of these opportunities may be partially in disguise.)

LEO (JUL 23 – AUG 22): The silkworm grows fast. Once it hatches, it eats constantly for three weeks.

By the time it spins its cocoon, it's 10 000 times heavier than it was in the beginning. But a mature, 60-foot-tall saguaro cactus may take 30 years to fully grow a new side arm. It's in no hurry.

From what I can tell, Leo, 2015 was more like a silkworm year for you, whereas 2016 will more closely resemble a saguaro. Keep in mind that while the saguaro

phase is different from your silkworm time, it's just as important.

VIRGO (AUG 23 – SEP 22): "The sky calls me," wrote Virgo teacher and poet Sri Chinmoy. "The wind calls me. The moon and stars call me. The dense groves call me. The dance of the fountain calls me.

Smiles call me, tears call me. A faint melody calls me. The morn, noon and eve call me. Everyone is searching for a playmate. Everyone is calling me, 'Come, come!'"

In 2016, Virgo, I suspect you will have a lot of firsthand experience with feelings like these. Sometimes life's seductiveness may overwhelm you, activating confused desires to go everywhere and do everything. On other occasions, you will be enchanted by the lush invitations, and will know exactly how to respond and reciprocate.

LIBRA (SEP 23 – OCT 22): In the 19th century, horses were a primary mode of personal transportation. Some people rode them and others sat in carriages and wagons that horses pulled. But as cities grew larger, a problem emerged: the mounting manure left behind on the roads. It became an everincreasing challenge to clear away the equine "pollution." In 1894, a British newspaper predicted that the streets of London would be covered with nine feet of the stuff by 1950. But then something unexpected happened: cars. Gradually, the threat of an excremental apocalypse waned. I present this story as an example of what I expect for you in 2016: a pressing dilemma that will gradually dissolve because of the arrival of a factor you can't imagine yet.

SCORPIO (OCT 23 – NOV 21): The longest river in the world flows through eastern Africa: the Nile. It originates below the equator and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Although its current flows north, its prevailing winds blow south. That's why sailors have found it easily navigable for thousands of years. They can either go with the flow of the water or use sails to harness the power of the breeze. I propose that we make the Nile your official metaphor in 2016, Scorpio. You need versatile resources that enable you to come and go as you please—that are flexible in supporting your efforts to go where you want and when you want.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22 – DEC 21): In many cases, steel isn't fully useful if it's too hard. Manufacturers often have to soften it a bit. This process, which is called tempering, makes the steel springier and more malleable. Car parts, for example, can't be too rigid. If they were, they'd break too easily. I invite you to use "tempering" as one of your main metaphors in 2016, Sagittarius. You're going to be strong and vigorous, and those qualities will serve you best if you keep them flexible. Do you know the word "ductile?" If not, look it up. It'll be a word of power for you.

CAPRICORN (DEC 22 – JAN 19): In his essay "The Etiquette of Freedom," poet Gary Snyder says that wildness "is perennially within us, dormant as a hard-shelled seed, awaiting the fire or flood that awakes it again." The fact that it's a "hard-shelled" seed is a crucial detail. The vital stuff inside the stiff outer coating may not be able to break out and start grow-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

ing without the help of a ruckus.

A fire or flood? They might do the job. But I propose, Capricorn, that in 2016 you find an equally vigorous but less disruptive prod to liberate your dormant wildness.

Like what? You could embark on a brave pilgrimage or quest. You could dare yourself to escape your comfort zone. Are there any undomesticated fantasies you've been suppressing? Unsuppress them!

AQUARIUS (JAN 20 – FEB 18): Frederick the Great was King of Prussia between 1740 and 1786. He was also an Aquarius who sometimes experimented with eccentric ideas. When he brewed his coffee, for example, he used Champagne instead of water. Once the hot elixir was ready to drink, he mixed in a dash of powdered mustard. In light of the astrological omens, I suspect that Frederick's exotic blend might be an apt symbol for your life in 2016: a vigorous, rich, complex synthesis of Champagne, coffee and mustard. (PS: Frederick testified that "Champagne carries happiness to the brain.")

PISCES (FEB 19 – MAR 20): My Piscean acquaintance Arturo plays the piano as well as anyone I've heard. He tells me that he can produce 150 different sounds from any single key. Using the foot pedals accounts for some of the variation. How he touches a key is an even more important factor. It can be percussive, fluidic, staccato, relaxed, lively and many other moods. I invite you to cultivate a similar approach to your unique skills in 2016. Expand and deepen your ability to draw out the best in them. Learn how to be even more expressive with the powers you already possess.V AT THE BACK 19

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SEX-OLOGY

TAMI-LEE DUNCAN TAMI-LEE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Practical New Year's resolutions

Take care of yourself in 2016 without all the usual guilt and shame (and dieting) Happy New Year! Chances are, you are not feeling so great right now.

If you are like the majority, you've probably over-indulged this holiday season and are suffering the hangover effects of an abundance of food, drinks and company. And now comes the part where we all reflect on our poor choices and resolve to do better in the new year.

This usually entails a gym membership or a plan to eat healthier.

But I think we can do better. It is my humble conviction that New Year's resolutions should be fun.

We spend enough time feeling inadequate—we do not need to add emphasis to health and fitness goals or double down on the shaming, no matter how wellintentioned we are. What we need to do is welcome in the new year with compassionate self-reflection and reasonably achievable objectives. Here are a few suggestions for ways to make 2016 great.

Care less The best way to make your life easier and more enjoyable is to let go of arbitrary expectations and comparisons. We all have goals, and we all should have goals—it's healthy to have a direction to pursue. But an obsessive attachment to a particular outcome of the goal is more of a hindrance than a motivation.

Be flexible. Be open. And you will be satisfied, whatever the outcome.

Challenge yourself I guess this is sort of a bucket listtype thing—but slightly less intense. It's less about jumping out of airplanes and more about grabbing an adult colouring book and getting a bit zen with it. Do something new or creative. The point is to do more of the fun things you think about but never do.

Connect with your inner child Remember the time before you had to be a grown up? That carefree period before we became bogged

down with social expectations and responsibilities? Remember how silly and goofy and fun it was?

Yeah, do more of that.

Spend more time with friends But, like, good friends. The kind that really get you. So often we find ourselves surrounded by superficial convenience friends. Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with that—these types of friendships serve an important function.

But there is something incredibly powerful about the "soulmate" type of friend. Those friendships are never boring or draining, but only serve to deepen your sense of self and your connection in this world.

If you don't feel like you have them, find them. They exist for everyone, you just have to look.

Eat what you want I might not be the best person to advise people on nutrition—I am a lazy glutton who hates to cook and eats an alarming amount of fast

food—so perhaps take this point with a grain of salt. I think it's important that we don't use "health" as an excuse to shame our bodies.

Don't punish yourself for being a bit chubby by restricting food. Instead, try to embrace your smooth curves and eat what you enjoy. Sure we need to watch our cholesterol and all that bullshit, but health isn't about perfect deprivation. It's OK to indulge every once in awhile.

Have better sex I don't have a lot to say about this, but since this is a sex column, I thought I should at least mention sex. So let's all commit to trying to improve our sex lives in 2016.

Do nothing Literally. Perhaps you aren't so bad and you don't require a life overhaul. Just relax and be happy with who you are. Let go of the belief that something yonder is the answer to a better self. Otherwise, you will never be satisfied.V Tami-lee Duncan is a Registered Psychologist in Edmonton, specializing in sexual health. Please note that the information and advice given above is not a substitute for therapeutic treatment with a licensed professional. For information or to submit a question, please contact tami-lee@vueweekly.com.

Follow on Twitter @SexOlogyYEG.

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AT THE BACK 21

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"No Whey!"—somehow you gotta take your lumps.

OTHER DICKS

Across

1 Letterhead illustrations 6 Key holder 9 "Your Movie Sucks" author Roger 14 "I'm on ___!"

15 Anonymous Richard in court cases 16 Where it's happening 17 Like some French sauces 18 Observation from one person to another, part 1 20 Observation, part 2 22 Street of bad dreams?

23 "Ice Age" sloth 24 Allow 25 Stick (out) 28 Singer who dropped "McEntire" from her performing name 30 Last name in cartoon skunks 32 Appease fully 33 Possible pigeon perch 35 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tony 36 Observation, part 3 40 "Oh ___! -- it's full of stars!" (line from the novel "2001") 41 "And there you have it!"

42 Rake in 43 British artist Lucian 45 BBQ specialty 49 180 degrees from SSW 50 Membership charge 51 Red or Dead follower 53 "Poetry Out Loud" org.

54 Response to the observation, part 1 57 Response, part 2 60 "The Kiss" artist Gustav 61 Baby food, typically 62 Legendary coach Parseghian 63 Word before craft or board 64 Northernmost NYC borough 65 Modern, in Munich 66 Make some z's

Down

1 Brief writer 2 Maryland's state bird 3 Lose sensation 4 "In My Own Fashion" autobiographer Cassini 5 ___ a fox 6 Cholesterol-laden burger topper 7 "Game of Thrones" actress Chaplin 8 Scarab, e.g.

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9 What's happening 10 Titanic obstacle 11 Pair of bunnies?

12 Bitterly regret 13 Golfer's support 19 Mountaintop feature 21 First name among early "SNL" regulars 25 Crows' cousins 26 "Reader" founder Eric 27 Lowest two-digit positive integer 29 "Good Eats" host Brown 31 "Pet" annoyance 32 Say some naughty words 34 LAX listing 35 Pomade alternative 36 Blue used in printing 37 Shrek, for example 38 "Undersea World" explorer Jacques 39 Evades the seeker 40 Checkers pieces 43 Pool table fabric 44 Grant another mortgage 46 Describing a living organism process (unlike, say, from a test tube) 47 Yuppie's German car, slangily 48 "Being and Nothingness" author 50 UPS rival 52 Goth necklace pendants 54 Small songbird 55 1950s Hungarian leader Nagy 56 Tesla founder Musk 57 "Be on the lookout" message 58 Low-down sort 59 Prefix sometimes seen around vasectomies ©2015 Jonesin' Crosswords

I am a 30-year-old straight man and I've been with a 28-year-old bisexual woman for a year. Early in our relationship, after much discussion, we established that it would be open. I would have the liberty to see other women and so would she. We just had to be safe and always keep each other informed. The key was that she agreed to see only other women.

I was uncomfortable with the idea of her being with another man, and she went along with it. Fast-forward a few months, and she told me that she had drunkenly kissed a male coworker. Hearing her say that hurt me. However, since then she has explained to me that the rule that she can be only with women is unfair because she's bisexual and she's attracted to both men and women.

I can see whomever I might find attractive, but she has to limit herself.

After much soul-searching, I came around to her point of view and she now has the option to see men too.

My question: how do I deal with the jealousy and emotions that will come up when she does kiss another man? Or does even more with another man? We love each other, and I think it's important to note that while we have both been on dates with other people, neither of us has had sex with someone else yet.

H AV I N G EMOTIONAL REACTION M E A N S A S K I N G NERVOUSLY

go the other way."

Assuming you're willing to renegotiate, HERMAN, where do you start?

"Perhaps the question of why he's more bothered by her being with men than women," Ryan said. "Maybe he could ask her to set up a threeway with a man they both like so he can face the dragon, so to speak. See if the flip side of his fear isn't that he's actually turned on by the thought of her with other men. Lots to explore, once he's certain he wants to explore it. But, again, if this is a non-negotiable—if this really isn't something HERMAN wants, despite his desire to be fair—it might be better to end the relationship than to attempt to be someone he's not or agree to something he'll never be at peace with."

Follow Christopher Ryan on Twitter @ChrisRyanPhD, and check out his podcast (Tangentially Speaking), videos and swag at ChrisRyanPhD.com.

OTHER DOMS

What are your thoughts on two Doms sharing one sub? The scene I envision includes the domination of the other Dom. Do some Doms enjoy the submission to another Dom while also enjoying dominating the sub? It's probably best to put it into

loves the idea but is out of town/ watching the GOP debate/sitting shivah/whatever.

SAFETY CALLS

Longtime reader and listener (magnum podcast subscriber!) here, and I have a conundrum. My partner and I have a DADT agreement in regards to extramarital relations. I'm a 40-something woman who travels a lot on business, and I find those trips a great opportunity to have NSA flings with younger men, all in good fun. So far, Tinder seems to be a good way to meet people, and I try to take precautions to ensure they are who they say they are by checking them out on social media and meeting them first in a public place. But a girl can't be too careful. Sometimes I wish I had someone I could call and just say, "Hey, I'm hosting a stranger tonight at my hotel. Could you call me at a specific time to check he hasn't chopped me up into little pieces?" My partner can't be that person because of the whole DADT thing. My friends don't know about my flings. And the front desk seems inappropriate. Is there an app out there providing this kind of service? Or does someone need to create one?

SEEKS DISCREET CALL SERVICE

Hard Truth #1: Renegotiating is crucial to the survival of all long-term relationships—even more so in unconventional, custom-designed relationships where there's no established template

"Hard Truth #1: Renegotiating is crucial to the survival of all long-term relationships—even more so in unconventional, custom-designed relationships where there's no established template," said Christopher Ryan, author of Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships.

"And while I don't see any unfairness in HERMAN's girlfriend wanting to have the same freedom he has (to see whomever she wants), if he agreed to the open relationship on the condition that she 'see only other women,' then renegotiating is going to be difficult."

Your description of that particular limitation—only other women—as "key" to opening up your relationship, HERMAN, left Ryan feeling less than optimistic.

"Hard Truth #2: It's a time-wasting mistake to negotiate non-negotiables," Ryan said. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be willing to learn and grow by trying new things. But our first task is to 'know thyself' and take it from there. For example, if you're certain you want or don't want kids, then that shouldn't be open to negotiation just because you met someone you like (or love) whose dreams

the context of my fantasy. I tie my sub to a chair or tie her down and then send a Snapchat to her other Dom. I invite the other Dom to come over and have his way with her. I would then leave, but they must stop immediately when I return, no matter where they are. The other Dom must then leave, and I do what I want from that point. Is this something I should talk with the other Dom about beforehand or should I just do it and see what happens?

I've talked to my sub, and she is really into that scene, but she doesn't know how her other Dom would feel about it.

DOMINATE OTHER MAN Sharing a sub could strike me as a great/hot idea, DOM, but my feelings are irrelevant—the scene isn't going to work if the other Dom thinks the idea is terrible/lame.

That said, I don't see any harm in waiting until your sub is tied down to propose this scene—lay out the details out in advance on Snapchat, not once he's in the room, so he'll be free to take a pass if the scene doesn't appeal to him. But by waiting, you run the risk of discovering, after it's all set up, after you've sent the Snapchat, that her other Dom

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

A Tinder-like app to hook up random people who are about to hook up with other r a n d o m people so the randos who met via the Tinder-like app can verify neither was murdered by the randos they met via Tinder itself? Sounds a little complicated, SDCS, and I'm not sure the market for your proposed app is big enough to attract investors. I also don't think introducing a second potentially unreliable and/ or sinister stranger into the mix is going to make your hotel hookups appreciably safer.

Here's a better idea/simpler life hack: schedule a wake-up call for an hour or two after your Tinder rando is due to arrive. You can schedule wakeup calls for any time of day, SDCS, and in nicer hotels you can even ask the front desk to ring you personally instead of scheduling a robocall. Just tell the receptionist you're a heavy sleeper and you need them to verify that you're awake/alive in time for your big meeting.

Or you could take a risk and confide in a friend about your open marriage, your flings and your need for a safety buddy. V Start the New Year right and subscribe to the Savage Lovecast: savagelovecast.com. @fakedansavage on Twitter

LUKE MORRISON GOOD SHEPHERD BLACK CHRISTMAS IHUMAN YOUTH SOCIETY

ATROCITIES IN DARFUR

HOLIDAY LABOUR FRACTAL PATTERN WESTMALLE TRIPEL HARUKI MURAKAMI THE RIGHT (SKI) ARC HIGHER GROUND AT SUN PEAKS

CORVID LORAX HAS AN ALBUM

KISS RULE FOR PRESS KITS VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016

BUDDHA BOY RETURNS ON CHRISTMAS DAY

COMING OUT ATHEIST

Week of: Dec 28 – Jan 3

2006-07 Issue

#

584

XAMAREEY

DREAMGIRLS

TAYLOR HICKS

CURTIS ROSS BUNNY HUGS SPARROWS SOAR A JOYFUL HARVEST

2007 IS YEAR

OF THE PIG

CHRISTMAS HAS A

HOLE NEW CONTEXT AT THE BACK 23

15.12.101 CHELSEA HOTEL VUE full page v2:0

12/17/15

9:15 AM

Page 1

CITADEL THEATRE PRESENTS THE FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE PRODUCTION OF

The Songs of Leonard Cohen “ …overwhelming inventiveness…”

GLOBE AND MAIL

“ passionate, beautiful, funny, the stuff of broken hearts, broken dreams, unforgettable nights and everlasting loves.”

VANCOUVER SUN

“ Chelsea Hotel is a knockout…

The harmonies are as thick as cabaret smoke and the performers exhale them with astonishing ease.”

GEORGIA STRAIGHT

Jan 13 - 24/16 DIRECTED AND CONCEIVED BY TRACEY POWER MUSIC DIRECTION AND ARRANGEMENTS BY

STEVEN CHARLES AGES 12+

Leonard Cohen’s powerful and inspirational music is the heartbeat of Chelsea Hotel, as six performers play seventeen different instruments in a rollicking tribute to the remarkable writer.

Selling fast • BUY TODAY! • Tickets start at just SEASON SPONSOR

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

GOVERNMENT SPONSORS

30 780.425.1820 citadeltheatre.com

$

MEDIA SPONSORS

CITADEL THEATRE

24 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 31, 2015 – JAN 6, 2016