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ARTS / 15 MUSIC / 31 EVENTS / 33 CLASSIFIED / 34 ADULT / 36

FRONT

4

"When you have that safe space, it's a breath of fresh air." // 4

DISH

8

"Of course that's feast or famine, because it depends on the seasons too; right now we have lots of mandarin oranges." // 8

ARTS

11

"And how often do you see the little girl get to be the hero?" // 11

FILM

16

"His nightmares have become nightly, driving both he and Amelia batty with sleep deprivation." // 16

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25

Live music 7 days a week

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UP FRONT 3

FRONT

NEWS EDITOR : REBECCA MEDEL REBECCA@VUEWEEKLY.COM

NEWS // GSA

Bring back Bill 202

Students and Safe Schools Alberta aren't pleased with the government's handling of GSAs

// Curtis Hauser

VUEPOINT

L

MIMI WILLIAMS MIMI@VUEWEEKLY.COM

An absent backbone

Courage, by its very nature, displays itself unexpectedly. Most of us go through our lives without having to worry about what we might do if confronted with extraordinary challenges or grave danger, so we don't really know what we'd do in the face of adversity until we're faced with it.

Not so with political leaders. It takes courage to put one's name on the ballot and subject one's self to rejection in the first place.

And given that adversity forms the foundation of our political system, it seems reasonable to me that we can expect our elected representatives to be equipped to handle it with some aplomb and, yes, courage.

On that front, demonstrated by his epic mishandling of Bill 10 last week, Premier Jim Prentice has failed miserably. Introduced to scuttle Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman's Bill 202, which would have enabled Gay-Straight Alliances be formed in any school where students asked for one, the Conservatives could not have bungled this file more if they had tried.

4 UP FRONT

What's worse for them is that the episode shines a light on the Premier's Achilles Heel: he lacks courage.

Prentice likes to point out that he voted against his party as a Conservative MP in 2005 when he voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Indeed, he calls it one of his proudest moments and likes to hold it up as symbolic of his commitment to equality.

But that 2005 vote is a symbol of something else, too: an absent backbone. There were three Conservative MPs who voted yes that day, but unlike his colleagues, Prentice snuck out the back door of the House of Commons rather than face the throng of media waiting out front.

I sense a pattern. As Prentice ducked out of the Light up the Legislature ceremony last week to avoid the LGBTQ youth and their advocates who had gathered out front, I thought of the courage those kids show as they face harassment, discrimination and hate every single day of their lives. Too bad it's not contagious. V

ast week saw the Alberta government attempt to pass Bill 10. By its final stage, it would have removed the mandatory notification to parents when issues of sexual orientation are discussed in schools—though inserted a potential loophole elsewhere—and made it so that students denied a GayStraight Alliance at their schools could go to the Ministry of Education and get it, though perhaps off-site.

What captured Albertans' attention was the GSA issue.

"There was a real attempt by the government to try to introduce what they had termed as a compromise and a balance of rights," says Richard Einarson of Safe Schools Alberta. "What we're talking about here is not something that takes away anyone's rights.

All we're talking about is allowing students to form a club that promotes inclusion and diversity."

The bill zipped through the legislature, amended along the way to change the original recourse for a denied GSA being a court appeal to going to the Ministry of Education.

The earlier, and procedurally killed, Bill 202 from Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman sought to prevent a school board from denying students who want a GSA at their school, as well as to remove the notification of sexualorientation discussion.

Widely panned by an uncommon consensus throughout the media, opposition parties and the social-media hordes of Twitter's #ableg, Premier

Jim Prentice announced Bill 10 would go on hold mere hours before its third and final reading on December 4.

More consultation with stakeholders was needed.

One stakeholder is 17-year-old bisexual high-school student GSA leader Aura Leddy—who also sits on the Edmonton Youth Council, which passed a motion denouncing Bill 10 on December 3.

Leddy says a GSA is a place for those in the LGBTQ community and their allies to meet in a safe, comfortable environment—though some outside the community have various misconceptions, such as assuming you have to be gay to be a part of a GSA or it's about the rainbow flag and promoting pride.

"I have met a lot of people who come to a point in their life coming to high school where they're so down, the world's against them," she says. "And when you have that safe space, it's a breath of fresh air.

"I think all schools should have GSAs. There are so many people out there who are in the closet, who feel they have to keep it from home, from schools, from whatever faith they believe in."

Research agrees with the benefits of these groups, such as a recent study from UBC titled School-based Strategies to Reduce Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempts and Discrimination Among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Adolescents in Western Canada.

"That study showed that the odds of

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

homophobic discrimination, suicidal thoughts and other things are reduced by more than half among LGBTQ students," Einarson says. "Evidence is how we should be basing our decisions in our school system."

As for what the problem getting in the way of the evidence here is, he's not entirely sure.

"I actually think that there's a discussion that needs to be had, where the folks who are opposed to GSAs in their schools should probably speak for themselves," he says. "I don't think we've really heard from those folks in any meaningful way. The government alluded to objections but really just talked about balancing religious freedom with the rights of students."

In any case, Leddy and Einarson both want GSAs in schools whenever a student asks and they want to see this in the revised version of Bill 10. She wants students to be able to have the clubs they want and for the government to trust them.

"I have to say the whole idea of the education minister making [a GSA] offproperty to me is a whole lot of baloney. I see so many issues with that," Leddy says. "To me, Bill 10 has so many flaws in it already. I'd like to see something like Bill 202 come back.

"It tackled a lot of issues that the LGBT community had acknowledged and GSAs had seen. And it was overall a very inclusive bill."

RYAN BROMSGROVE

RYAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

DYERSTRAIGHT

GWYNNE DYER // GWYNNE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Conspiracy in Zimbabwe

President Mugabe's ousting of VP was most likely his wife's doing Political dynasties tend to thrive in very large democratic countries where name-recognition is a huge asset: think two President Adams, two President Roosevelts and maybe soon a third President Bush or a second President Clinton in the United States, or the string of Indian prime ministers from the Nehru-Gandhi clan. By contrast, such dynasties are rare in Africa—but there's an exception to every rule.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the end of the white-minority regime in 1980. He's in pretty good shape for 90 (and his mother lived to 100), but it's inevitable that the question of his succession will pop up from time to time. The answer has usually been that it's a race between two leading figures of the ruling Zanu-PF party: Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa was generally reckoned to be Mugabe's favourite for the role, but Mujuru, who fought in the "Bush War" against the white regime and once shot down a Rhodesian military helicopter with a machine-gun, had more support among the party's activists. In any case, with the next "election" not due until 2018 and Mugabe showing no signs of imminent mortality, there was no urgency in the situation.

POLITICALINTERFERENCE

Then in September, Mujuru was awarded a PhD by the University of Zimbabwe for a thesis on "strategic exploratory entrepreneurship", whatever that may be. (Zimbabwe is a poor and mismanaged country, but it probably has the best-educated population in sub-Saharan Africa, so a higher academic degree is a political asset.)

It's not clear how much of the work Mujuru did herself, but her thesis was soon on the shelves of the university library. The remarkable thing is that Mugabe's wife Grace was awarded a PhD in sociology at the same ceremony, although she had only enrolled at the university three months before. Her thesis has still not shown up in the library.

Since mid-September, however, Zimbabwe has been through a threemonth political blitzkrieg that saw Grace Mugabe supplant Mujuru as the heir apparent to the presidency of Zimbabwe. First she was nominated as the head of the Zanu-PF's women's league, despite a complete lack of political experience. Then she embarked on a "meet-the-nation" tour of all 10 of Zimbabwe's provinces whose main theme was the vilification of Mujuru.

She called the vice-president "corrupt, an extortionist, incompetent, a gossiper, a liar and ungrateful," add-

ing that she was "power-hungry, daft, foolish, divisive and a disgrace." She claimed that Mujuru was collaborating with opposition forces and white people to undermine the country's post-independence gains. And she accused the independence war hero of plotting to assassinate her husband.

The pay-off came last week at the Zanu-PF party congress in Harare (take the newly renamed Dr Grace Mugabe Drive and have the chauffeur drop you at the door). Mujuru was purged from the party, with Robert Mugabe telling the congress: "I don't know how many books we could write about Mujuru's crimes."

Grace Mugabe was confirmed as head of the women's league and everybody expects that her next stop will be the vice-presidency.

There were a few dissenting voices: Jabulani Sibanda, a veteran of the independence war, told a meeting that this was a "bedroom coup" and argued that "power was not sexually transmitted." But he was charged with insulting the president, and most people just kept their heads down. Opposing the Mugabes can be an unhealthy and occasionally even a fatal business.

But what is really going on here?

Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwe's First Lady, is a woman of modest educa-

tion and coarse manners who met the president when she was manning the switchboard at State House. Forty-one years younger than the president, she began an affair with him that produced two children even before his wife died. She was known as "First Shopper" because of her extravagance, but she never showed any interest in politics.

That's why some observers are persuaded that she isn't really Mugabe's choice as successor. On the contrary, they argue, he's just using her to clear Mujuru out of the way so that his real choice, Mnangagwa, can become vice-president. But it seems an unnecessarily round-about way for an autocrat like Mugabe to do business. It also ignores how strong her hold on him is.

At last week's party congress, Mugabe, frail and sometimes forgetful, took the mic to dissolve the outgoing central committee, and instead wandered off into a lecture about the liberation struggle. Grace wrote him a note telling him to sit

Robert Mugabe // Creative Commons

down. He did, telling the audience "My wife has written a note; she says I'm talking too much. That's how I am treated even at home, so I must listen."

It is entirely possible that Grace's sudden rise to power is her own idea. If it is, it's a bad one, because her power would not long outlast Robert Mugabe's demise. She has neither political skills nor a base within the party. But she might be doing the country an inadvertent favour even so, if the intra-party struggle to get rid of her after her husband's death shook Zanu-PF's long and mostly malign stranglehold on power in Zimbabwe. V Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

RICARDO ACUÑA // RICARDO@VUEWEEKLY.COM

The real winners of the Bill 10 battle Prentice's three-point plan to keep the GSA bill off the table

// Elias Schewel via Compfight

Activists and opposition parties in Alberta were quick to declare victory last week upon learning that Premier Jim Prentice had placed Bill 10 on hold "pending further consultation with Albertans." And to some degree they deserved to declare victory. The loud and unwavering backlash against Bill 10 in social media, in mainstreammedia editorials, from high-profile politicians (even Conservatives) around the country and from activ-

ists at impromptu rallies forced the government's hand and shamed them into pulling the legislation.

Certainly, having to pull a piece of legislation midway through the legislative process was an embarrassment for Prentice and his government. No government ever wants to have to back-track on legislation, and that certainly represents something of a public defeat for Prentice. Looking at the big picture, however, can it really

be considered a defeat at all?

The Prentice government introduced Bill 10 with three very clear goals in mind. The first was to keep Bill 202, Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman's bill mandating gay-straight alliances wherever requested by a student, from ever becoming law, thus ensuring that no Catholic board in the province could ever be forced to accept a GSA in one of its schools.

Prentice's second goal was to keep Bill 202 from ever going to a vote in the legislature, so as to avoid the embarrassment of having a large number of government MLAs actually vote against a bill mandating what are essentially support clubs and friendship circles bringing together gay and straight kids. It is clear now, seeing how the debates and votes on Bill 10 played out, that a large number of Conservative MLAs would have voted against Bill 202, possibly even enough to defeat it. That would not have looked good for a government working hard to present itself as more socially progressive than the Wildrose Party.

Prentice's final goal appears to have been to keep his education minister,

former fundamentalist Christian pastor Gordon Dirks, from ever having to speak publicly or declare his position to Albertans one way or another on the question of GSAs. At one point last week, at the height of the public debate around Bill 10, Dirks actually ran away from a media scrum to avoid answering any questions. His only contribution to the entire debate was a short comment in the legislature on the Thursday before the bill was pulled, asserting some broad sentiments about student safety. How does an education minister justify not once commenting on a bill that is entirely about the school system in our province? Is the Premier that ashamed of Dirks' beliefs? And if that's the case, why is he minister of education in the first place? Keeping Dirks quiet was clearly one of the government's goals in this whole process.

to embarrassingly vote against Blakeman's GSA bill, and has kept Dirks from embarrassing the government publicly with potentially homophobic, or at the very least, anti-GSA views.

Prentice has also bought himself some time to pretend to consult with Albertans before bringing Bill 10 back with new language that will still ultimately be about protecting the wishes of Catholic boards at the expense of gay kids. Bill 202 was important precisely because it prioritized the rights and needs of those kids above the wishes of conservative school boards and administrators. If Albertans want to ensure Bill 10 ultimately reflects that same spirit, now is not the time to declare victory and back off, quite the opposite. Now is the time to increase pressure and advocacy on this government and its MLAs to ensure that Bill 10 gets it right. V

If one considers that Prentice introduced Bill 10 with those three goals in mind, then the way it has played out can only be considered a victory for him. He has kept the province's Catholic boards from having GSAs mandated, has saved his caucus from having

Ricardo Acuña is the executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan, public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.

The views and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

UP FRONT 5

FRONT NEWS // NATURAL BIRTH

FROM MEDICAL TO MIDWIFE Birthing at home goes against our medically structured cultural norms

T

here seem to be two camps when it comes to birthing: those who believe birth should happen in a hospital where medical help is on hand should anything go wrong, and those who believe life should not be brought into the world in this type of sterile environment.

Home-birth advocates have been seen as a hippie counterculture in North America for some time—pretty much since the peace and love movement decided it wanted nothing more to do with birthing in hospitals

and took the experience back home— but home birth has been gaining traction in the past few years.

One of the co-leaders of the MaternityCare Consumers of Alberta Network, which published a report on its findings regarding the province's maternity-care system in November, wants the two sides to be able to support one another.

"I've felt that it's created a division, it's created this us versus them thing," says Jennifer Summerfeldt, who is also a doula, a h ol istic type

of birth attendant. "There's this contention and somehow I want that to dissolve so it becomes like we're having a conversation about something different, that's not just about natural birth versus medically managed birth."

Summerfeldt studied under the Matrona system of quantum midwifery, which focuses on undisturbed birthing practices, but before any of that, she stumbled upon natural birth quite naturally—by getting pregnant and not feeling comfortable with the thought of birthing in a hospital.

"I hadn't learned anything about childbirth except that you go to the hospital, you get a doctor, you give birth," she recalls. "Something in me was telling me that there's something off about this. It felt so foreign to me, it felt so distant, it felt like there was a lot of uncertainty and there was a lot of disconnection from my body."

Looking for answers about the changes happening to her, Summerfeldt did what a lot of pregnant women have done since it was published in 1984 and read What to Expect When You're Expecting.

"As I was reading it, I realized I was filled with fear, and I was more afraid of experiencing this event than I was to actually embrace it," she says. "So I thought, 'No. This has got to be wrong. We should not be so terrified of this really huge, life-transitioning moment.'"

Casting What to Expect aside, Summerfeldt found a copy of Ina May Gaskin's Spiritual Midwifery, which is kind of like the home-birth Bible.

"That was filled with a language and stories that were very much stretching my comfort zone because I wasn't at all around that kind of world. I wasn't a hippie," she says. "Something about giving birth in this compassionate, loving, home environment really inspired me. ... I had three pregnancies and three home births, and I just read for 10 years straight and then I got saturated and I stopped."

Summerfeldt came to the realization that birth is a women's-rights issue, since over the last century women have traded the comfort of birthing in the home for laying on their backs in a hospital bed.

"I was devastated by the amount of historical violence that women had experienced throughout their childbearing years," Summerfeldt says.

"My grandmother's story was one that she was completely disconnected from her body and her pregnancy. She was 17-years-old and she went t o

// Shawna Iwaniuk

6 UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

the hospital and they tied her down.

They tied her legs and her arms down.

She had no idea what was happening; she thought she was dying.

"So I'd say my choice to have a home birth was to avoid the potential violence that I'd come into contact with in a hospital environment." (Note: tying a woman down is no longer an accepted hospital procedure.)

Violence is a harsh word and Summerfeldt does not expect everyone to agree with her analysis of it. But as someone who has attended births as a doula and a student of quantum midwifery—she attended midwifery apprenticeships in Texas and Mexico—and having developed and taught childbirth classes, she has seen many instances where women are subjected to various forms of physical and emotional violence in a hospital setting. She categorizes this violence in the following ways: 1) The mother not feeling like she has a voice and surrendering to an authority figure such as a doctor. "Culturally, without even recognizing it, we'll defer our power to them. They have a lot of rank. Unless you are very self-aware, and unless you are very strong-willed, it's very challenging for you to speak your needs to a doctor.

Add the vulnerability of childbirth to that and I feel like it makes it even that much more challenging and I see that all the time."

2) Physical violations like consecutive or protocolled vaginal exams during labour. "Some of those exams are painful. I have seen exams being done with women saying 'No,' and they're still being forced on them, which is a form of sexual assault."

Summerfeldt has also seen women held down or forced into a position they don't want to be in. "You have a mom who is delivering on all fours, hands and knees, and at the very last minute, as the baby's crowning, she's lifted and turned over onto her back against her will."

3) The physical act of pulling on the baby, the use of forceps, the cutting of the perineum by an episiotomy, and other actions to remove the baby from the birth canal all injure the mother's sexual anatomy and are a form of violence toward the baby as well.

4) Taking the woman's autonomy away and making her feel like she has no control over her body or can't be trusted to know what's best. "It's the way it's presented: 'Well if you don't make this choice, then your baby will die.' That's not a choice. That's the illusion of choice."

MCAN conducted a Listening Campaign between April and August before filing a report of its findings.

The campaign involved more than 1200 voices through an online survey and nine focus groups. It found that Alberta's maternity-care system is in the midst of a crisis and is unsustain-

able. The biggest concern is the lack of low-risk maternity-care providers in rural settings, as there are not enough to meet the demand. Also, the Universal Rights of Childbearing Women, which focus on the care that should be supplied during birth, are not always being acknowledged and supported. The Rights were created by the White Ribbon Alliance, a nonprofit organization that globally advocates for proper maternal care.

Summerfeldt says there was concern about lack of support for postpartum depression, a rise in postpartum depression and a rise in birth trauma. This is actually her field of study as she is working on her masters in counselling psychology with a specialization in working with women with postp a r t u m depression and PTSD due to birth trauma.

A study published by the University of Eastern Finland in 2013 found that the risk of postpartum depression is almost three times higher in women with no history of depression if they have fear going into childbirth.

"My theory is that in order for obstetricians to have power and be able to manage the chaos of birth, they've had to compartmentalize and desexualize the experience, especially because it was predominantly dominated by men for the longest time," Summerfeldt says. "So the way to take the power away from childbearing women was to do that, to systemize the process."

When Summerfeldt was hired to teach a group of nursing students about natural, gentle childbirth, none of them had experienced anything remotely close to what she described.

"When your model of care is one that reinforces complications and pathology, then you're not actually going to know how to support what's normal because you've never seen it, you haven't been trained in it. So you can't expect them to even have a belief that there is something else out there."

much of Europe and Australia, too.

The advantage, he says, of midwifery units being in a hospital is that there is medical help nearby if a complication should arise.

"If home births are undertaken, they've got to be undertaken in situations where rapid transfer to a hospital can occur," Tankel says. "They have to be well-screened patients; they have to have a good mechanism of transferring patients."

He cites the American Journal of Obstetricians and Gynecology's 2010 study, which found that neonatal death rates were two to three times higher in US home births than in hospital births.

ean section, let's say, because maybe they have a history of being raped or abused. Let's say for some women it's more compassionate for them to choose an elective caesarean because they feel that they're actually making a choice and so for them, that's an empowering experience. For some women it's more compassionate for them to have pain relief because there's too much memory associated with the childbirth labour they're going through. So this really shifted my perspective on how every woman should move towards having a natural childbirth. For me, it's how do we respond compassionately to every individual's needs so that they feel safe enough to voice those needs?"

She still believes home birth is the optimal experience, but has come to terms that it might not be the best experience for everyone.

"What's the best way to support a woman so that she finds power in the experience for her? That could be that for the first time in her life she sets a boundary and says to her caregiver, no you can't do another vaginal exam.

It might not matter that she had an epidural, but to her she found her voice. It could be that everybody in her family wants her to have a hospital birth, including her partner, but she chooses to follow her heart and her instincts, which is to say no to them and to have a home birth. It could be that she finds her power by finding the right position to push in, that by following her body instead of by following what the caregivers are telling her to do. These are all very subtle ways in which a childbearing woman could find her power. How do we create environments, regardless of where, that are actually supporting women's power, that actually believe in their ability to give birth and that also have a very high respect for the fact that we're talking about women's sexual anatomy?"

Culturally, without even recognizing it, we'll defer our power to them. They have a lot of rank. Unless you are very self-aware, and unless you are very strong-willed, it's very challenging for you to speak your needs to a doctor.

Dr Jonathan Tankel, an OBGYN who also teaches at the University of Alberta, says he agrees that women should have natural births free from the use of interventions unless medically necessary.

"Am I in favour of home birth at the present time? Well, I'm in favour of giving patients their options. I believe at the present time that the best alternative still is a hospital birth," Tankel says. "I think all of us would want the most natural, non-medicalized, least-invasive setting within a hospital system."

In South Africa, where Tankel did his medical training, hospitals have midwifery units right next to obstetrical units. This practice is common in

But in Canada, it seems to be a different story. Two Canadian studies from 2009 and 2012 found that home birth in Canada had the same neonatal death rates as hospital births, "Planned Home Birth With Registered Midwife as Safe as Hospital Birth" and "Outcomes of Planned Home Birth With Registered Midwife" both in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, respectively.

Tankel says the Canadian studies were small and as far as he knows were not based on a randomized, controlled trial. Ideally, he'd like to see a collaborative practice with midwives and obstetricians.

"You can predict certain things, but there's certain things that will occur," he adds. "Sometimes the baby can go into distress, that's unpredictable.

The shoulder can get stuck, that can be unpredictable. There are certain things that are not predictable that can occur during labour. And to my mind, and this is purely my opinion, I'm not speaking for my department, the safest option is delivering in a low-risk unit, in a midwifery unit, but within a hospital system where transfer can occur rapidly as opposed to it being outside."

REBECCA MEDEL

REBECCA@VUEWEEKLY.COM

There is cultural pressure to deliver in a hospital for sure, but to say that is the main reason women choose not to have a home birth is another form of stealing autonomy from and speaking for them. Summerfeldt says she's thought a lot about why not every woman would want to experience a natural childbirth.

"There's a lot of negative experiences associated with [some women's] sexuality or with their body that have not been addressed and childbirth actually brings that up," she says. "So I think that there is a part where it's more compassionate for the women to maybe have an elective caesarVUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

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DISH

VUEWEEKLY.com/DISH CHECK OUT DISH WEEKLY ONLINE FOR WHAT’S HAPPENING IN LOCAL FOOD

DISH EDITOR : MEL PRIESTLEY MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // CHARITY

EFFICIENT AND STREAMLINED Edmonton Food Bank knows how to get the job done

C

Association. "The 'gleaners' term really fits with us, because instead of going to landfills, we're able to use this product and ship it out because it's perfectly good."

Over 70 percent of the food that comes into the Food Bank is culled from the local food industry. Everything is edible but not marketable for various reasons: mislabelling or labelling changes (we passed by palettes full of Halloween-themed potato chips), damaged packaging with unharmed contents (cereal boxes with crushed corners), or simply overstock. The Food Bank does a lot of education on food safety; Bencz-Knight notes that most of the time, the date stamped on containers is not a true expiration date, but rather the last day the manufacturer considers the item at peak freshness. Most foods are fine long after this date: yogurt can be safely consumed 10 days after the best-before date, for example.

haritable giving is big right now, but the Edmonton Food Bank needs your attention year round.

Most Edmontonians are likely unaware of the sheer size and scope of our Food Bank. The first of its kind in Canada, the Edmonton Food Bank was established in 1981 and is fully funded by the community—not a single dollar comes from any level of government. Its mandate has always been to provide food to people in need, but it achieves this by serving a much broader purpose: diverting a massive amount of perfectly edible food from the garbage.

After arriving at the Food Bank's current location (they've moved four times) just south of Kingsway where it bends into 118th Avenue, I was greeted warmly by the receptionist and then taken into the bustling warehouse by Tamisan Bencz-Knight, the manager of strategic relationships and partnerships. She began her career as a volunteer in 1988, and her knowledge of every detail of the Food Bank's history and operations is nothing short of encyclopedic.

"Food Banks were first established as central warehouses to redistribute food; our hamper programs didn't even start until 1986," notes Bencz-Knight, explaining that the Edmonton Food Bank was originally founded as the Edmonton Gleaners

Once food is received at the Food Bank, be it from grocery stores (from which the Bank often has to pick up), donations or bulk shipments from Food Banks Canada (the national umbrella which ships food across the country to central hubs), a team of volunteers inspects, sorts and packages it for redistribution. The Food Bank measures volunteers in hours

because the number is so variable; many organizations do team volunteer events at the bank. (A school group was busy sorting through recent donations during our tour.) Each year, the majority of the Food Bank's work is done by more than 45 000 volunteer hours, along with a core paid staff of 30 people.

More than 210 agencies also access food directly from the Food Bank, such as Hope Mission, the Bissell Centre, Operation Friendship, E4C and the Salvation Army.

"Agencies will all come in here to accept different products and do their shopping," Bencz-Knight explains.

"For example, Hope Mission is in here twice a day; they come in to pick up what they need to do their community dinners. If we're able to help all those different agencies access food product, instead of buying food or spending the time soliciting food donations, they can use their funds to work directly with their program.

That way it saves them cost, so they can do extra hands-on work with their clients, and that's what's really important. No duplication: efficiency and streamlining."

The Food Bank's hamper program provides five days' worth of items— without any supplements—to individuals and families in need. The hampers are built at the Food Bank's central

// Meaghan Baxter

warehouse and then sent out for distribution to over 40 depots around the city. Each hamper consists of a core of high-protein items like peanut butter, canned meats, soups and infant formula; the Food Bank purchases over $600 000-worth of these staples every year. Hampers also contain plenty of fresh products: fruits, vegetables, eggs, bread and the like.

"The majority of a hamper will be fresh," Bencz-Knight says. "But we don't buy any of the fresh stuff because that's coming in from the food industry. Of course that's feast or famine, because it depends on the seasons too; right now we have lots of mandarin oranges."

The Edmonton Food Bank serves roughly 13 500 people through the hamper program alone, though Bencz-Knight notes this number swelled to more than 15 000 since September. In addition to being the centre of a huge food redistribution network, the Food Bank provides community support for people facing various challenges, directing them to other resources like credit and addictions counselling.

"We err on providing food," BenczKnight says. "We have to be careful; I'm not saying we've never had to say no. But realistically, 40 to 45 percent of our clients are children, and

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55 percent of our clients are on fixed income, from AISH to EI to other social benefits."

Many people donate and volunteer in December: this is a time of stockpiling for the Food Bank.

"One of the reasons why our holiday campaign goals are 1.3 million and 250 000 kilograms of food is because once the holiday season is over, people stop thinking about us," Bencz-Knight says. "So we stockpile, just so we can get through a big chunk of the spring."

So, what's the best way for Edmontonians to help the Food Bank?

"Think about the Food Bank regularly, and keep us at the top of their minds," says Bencz-Knight, noting that the Bank is open Tuesday to Thursday in the evening, and Saturday during the day, for people to volunteer (please call ahead). For those who don't have the time to spare, donations are always welcome—and money is needed just as much as food.

"Food donations are great, but monetary donations allow us to run our trucks; again, we're not governmentfunded," she says. "It doesn't have to be $100—it could be $25. It could be $5. It is with the pooled collective of Edmonton's donating that we're able to operate."

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

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A new beer scene

Niagra proves its got more to offer than wine Recently I found myself in Niagara, the heart of southern Ontario's wine country. That might make some beer drinkers cry "Uncle" and pick up a glass of Merlot—but not me. I was determined to find some good craft beer to drink.

I couldn't find anything in Niagara a decade ago that could be called local beer, so my hopes were not high this time around. How surprised I was, then, to discover that the past couple years have been good to this region's beer drinkers.

Beer is on the rise in the heart of eastern Canada's wine country: Niagara's beer scene is a recent and nascent movement, but clearly thriving. I spent some time happily hanging out at three breweries and one brewpub.

What may prove most interesting is the Niagara College Teaching Brewery, the commercial arm of Canada's first brewmaster college program. Established a couple of years ago, the program is producing Canada's next generation of professional brewers. If you are going to learn how to brew, you need to actually brew; therefore, the program has a fully operational brewery.

And if you are going to brew beer, you might as well sell it to the area's pubs and liquor stores.

I can't say any of this studentbrewed beer blew me away. Their two annual beers, First Draft Ale and Lager, are fairly pedestrian, although the lager is clearly all-grain and fairly decent. The one-off seasonal projects are more interesting, if still a bit uneven. But, hey, they are students; cut them some slack.

On more solid ground are two new breweries, situated literally

five minutes apart from each other on Niagara Stone Road leading into Niagara-on-the-Lake. Both are very young and each is carving its own interesting and unique space in the local beer scene. The first one you'll pass, and the elder of the pair at almost three years old, is Silversmith Brewing. Located in a decommissioned church that was built in 1892, and with an amazing interior design, Silversmith offers a cozy local place to sip on some very interesting beer. They have quickly developed a local following, and apparently some of the region's winemakers regularly stop by after work for a beer or two— that sure says something.

Silversmith offers a wide range of beer styles, anchored by their Black Lager: a solid beer that offers a light coffee and chocolate character. They also cracked open a bottle of their very special Strong Wrong #1, a Lambic that's aged for eight months in Pinot Grigio wine barrels and spiked with Brettanomyces wild yeast, which slowly alters the beer. It presents a lovely puckering character with just a touch of earthy mustiness caused by the Brett; it's an admirable first attempt at a Lambic.

Just down the road is Niagara Oast House Brewers. Located in a historic red barn, they unabashedly dismiss the new craft-brewery mantra of blonde ales and lightly-hopped pale ales, and have instead jumped feet-first into farmhouse ales. Sure, they offered a pale ale and an IPA when I was there, but their range of traditional farmhouse ales clearly took centre stage. They may be the only brewery in Canada to regular-

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ly offer both a Saison and a Bière de Garde. These related styles offer a spicy, earthy character, but differ significantly in their details; the Saison has a honey front with a back end of balanced white pepper, offering a very delicate, dry interpretation of the style.

My fourth stop was an unassuming brewpub in the rusting auto town of St Catharines. Officially on the edge of wine country, it still has more links to that region than to the beer-centric city of Toronto.

Situated in downtown St Catharines (which has clearly seen better days), The Merchant Ale House has a comfortable, rustic feel to it, and I felt quite at home in its dark room.

They offer a dozen constantlyrotated, in-house beers, as well as six guest beers. Highlights included their Extra Special Bitter, which had a nice caramel malt and floral hop character with a pleasant, two-tone linger. I also appreciated the Dark Wheat, which adds a bit of dark malt notes to a light, fruity wheat beer.

All of Niagara's roadside signs point to wineries, but don't be fooled: beer is slowly ingratiating itself in this region. The scene is small for the moment, offering only handful of options amidst a sea of wine. But beer's time will come in Niagara, as it offers something that wine cannot: breweries are able to draw upon the entire global spectrum of beer styles, regardless of where it is made. V Jason Foster is the creator of onbeer.org, a website devoted to news and views on beer from the prairies and beyond.

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DISH 9

DISH FEATURE // FOOD BANK

Food for thought

NOW HIRING! Join our growing team. We have career opportunities available in our Edmonton location:

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Though completely ecutive eirector of the University of • Shop, Field andaResident Technicians separate entity infrom Whitecourt, Valley, Camrose, theDrayton Edmonton Food Bank, the Alberta's Campus Food Bank. and Barrhead It seems an odd sentiment to hear Campus Food Bank similarly relies on • Territory Managers donations, from a charity—one would assume • Parts Persons both food and monetary, from the general community; they also that lower numbers of clients would • Warehousepersons much of their products from be better. But Phare knows there are Applyobtain online at www.brandtjobs.com.

"Edmonton"grocery into the search field around town. stores many hungry people on campus and Entervarious Job Opportunities page. and oats are the most-needed lots of them haven't even heard of on theRice out more about exciting career hamper; they thatourgo in every the Campus Food Bank, let alone ac- Find staples opportunities at www.brandtjobs.com need toiletries and high cessed its services. or byalso callingregularly 306-791-8923. non-perishable foods.

"Our mandate is to eliminate hun- Brandtprotein, Tractor is the world’s largest privately held Construction and ForestryFood EquipmentBank's biggest The Campus ger on campus," she says. "Which is John Deere dealer and a Platinum member of the Canada’s Best food drive kind of impossible, when your last Managed Companies Program.was at Halloween: these group graduates every year and you donations will carry them well into the get a brand-new group coming in ev- winter semester. Phare notes that the ery year, 18 and fresh and full of the demand for their services generally Join consistent our growing team.

We have remains year-round, though same problems." career opportunities available in our the most the second semester is often Tucked in a corner on the mainNOW floor HIRING! Edmonton location: difficult time for instudents and the of the Student's Building, JoinUnion our growing team. Wethe have career opporunities • Heavy available Equipmentour Mechanics Food Bank canandexperience a shortCampus Food Bank started inEdmonton 1991 location: • Shop, Field Resident Technicians in Whitecourt, Draytonand Valley,March.

Camrose, term or spike in February and provides hampers to more 12345 • Heavyfood Equipment Technicians (Apprentice Journeyman) Barrhead think biggest issue is getting than 1700 people in need from the in the"I shop • Positions available andandfithe eld • Territory Managers • Residentfrom positionunderavailable in Bonnyville, Edson, Hinton. our message out to the students that U of A community, • Parts Persons Applyand onlinegraduate at www.brandtjobs.com.

“Edmonton” into the search field on that imneed and getting past graduate students Enter •us, Warehousepersons the Job Opportunities ofApply coming to a food bank," Phare to alumni and staff; nearly 45 age page. online at www.brandtjobs.com.

Find out more about our exciting career opportunities atthe search says.

"We're not into here because you percent of the Campus Food Bank's Enter "Edmonton" field on306-791-8923. the Job Opportunities page. we're not www.brandtjobs.com callingtake care of yourself; clients are dependents.

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10 DISH

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

ARTS

VUEWEEKLY.com/ARTS ARTS EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

A PREVIEW OF THE WALTERDALE’S SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION AND A REVIEW OF THE CITADEL’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

PREVUE // DANCE

An easy, festive nut to crack Alberta Ballet's holiday staple, The Nutcracker, returns

Fri, Dec 12 – Sun, Dec 14 The Nutcracker Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, $29 – $98.50

Classic Christmas // Yin Yi

I

n the world of North American ballet, no production matters more than The Nutcracker.

Tchaikovsky's classic score, first performed in 1892, is instantly recognizable, as is the choreography and timeless story of a young girl who becomes a hero and is swept into a fantasy world.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will be performing the famous melodies that have become synonymous with Christmas itself. And Zack Brown, the New York-based Emmy-award winner, is in charge of designing the set and costumes— like the family's living room bal-

looning 100 times its normal size during the epic battle with the Mouse King—alongside the treasured tunes.

Few are better acquainted with The Nutcracker than Jean GrandMaître, the artistic director for Alberta Ballet. Originally a dancer before becoming a world-renowned choreographer, Grand-Maître was first involved in The Nutcracker when he was 15—he's 51 now and hasn't missed a year.

"This is a very rich production," Grand-Maître says over the phone from Ottawa, where Alberta Ballet has just started its run of The

Nutcracker. "I have to tip my hat to Tchaikovsky. When you hear the score—you get music from Russia, Spain, Arabian cultures—it's just brilliant, and it captures the attention of both adults and children."

It's especially loved by kids, thanks to dozens of young dancers who get to share the stage with the professional dancers in The Nutcracker.

"And how often do you see the little girl get to be the hero?" GrandMaître adds. "Plus, there's over 80 children on stage from more than 25 ballet schools in Edmonton. The kids really identify with that."

The production has grown from a $60 000 effort 30 years ago to the multi-million-dollar spectacular that Alberta Ballet presents today.

The Nutcracker is a staple, "bread and butter" production in North America, with some ballet companies reporting it generates as much as 40 percent of annual revenue. "[The Nutcracker] is your lifeblood," Grand-Maître says. "Your cash flow comes from subscription sales. When the bank starts to get dry, The Nutcracker is there and then you can survive until you sell more subscriptions."

A big part of why The Nutcracker

is so lucrative is because many folks show up who aren't the core ballet audience. This, says Grand-Maître, is a brilliant opportunity to expose kids to the magic of the arts.

"Children today, if you just let them watch the news, they only see the worst of us," he says. "More than ever, children need to be inspired by what humanity can do at its best. [The Nutcracker] is a chance for them discover all these arts at once: dance, costume, orchestra. It's a wonderful way to inspire them."

and possibly second, acts could (and should) be condensed. Certainly I could have done without the parade of large, hand-held fish props—or at least with fewer reprisals of same. Used as both satire and homage to Passion Play's namesake, these extended ethereal sequences are atmospheric and lovely, paired with an interesting soundtrack of contemporary remixes, but they are also redundant and extend an already extended, threehour-plus affair.

which results in some eminently satisfying payouts in the third act. The show's later half is really where everything comes together and the performers have their best chemistry together. Nathan Cuckow in particular delivers an absolutely riveting, nuanced performance in the third act, and even the performers with smaller parts all have their best moments around that same time.

Despite its early tedium, Wild Side's Passion Play is certainly worth taking in: not only for its compelling, expansive and clever web of commentary, but certainly for its wonderful showcasing of local acting talent.

JOSH MARCELLIN

JOSH@VUEWEEKLY.COM

REVUE // THEATRE

Passion Play I

f Oscar Wilde was right about life imitating art far more than the other way around, perhaps we'll witness a group of Edmonton performers acting biblically over the holidays.

Or maybe they'll just turn into a bunch of satirists. Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play can be coded many ways, but a satire it most definitely is. Wild Side Productions' take on Ruhl's romp through the long, complicated history of Passion Plays—dramatic depictions of the trial, suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ—occurs in the black-box theatre lab at Grant MacEwan's arts campus. It's an atypical location for a Passion Play, which are often huge endeavours held in outdoor amphitheatres; but then,

this isn't the real thing. Rather, it's Jesus Christ) or indirectly (Kristi a peek into three different produc- Hansen plays three political rultions of a Passion Play in three ers, and steals the show each time different eras: with her stately 1575 England, Queen Elizabeth, 1934 Germany Until Sun, Dec 14 (7:30 pm; 2 pm g o o s e - s te p p i n g Herr Hitler and and Reagan-era Sunday matinee) Directed by Jim Guedo bumbling Ronald America.

Each part of MacEwan Centre for the Arts Reagan).

Passion Play has and Communications, Theatre This is an allstar cast featura very different Lab (10045 – 155 St), $25 – $35 tone and central ing some of Edmonton's finest focus, though each charts the personal lives of its performers, which is at times the set of characters alongside the in- only thing preventing the show terplay between religion (and the- from becoming utterly wearisome. atre) and the ruling political power The first act is particularly tedious, of the time. The performers reprise in part due to the historical distheir roles in every part, whether tance from that era, but mainly directly (Jesse Gervais plays three because of Jim Guedo's leisurely characters tasked with the role of direction; one wonders if the first,

That said, while some productions of Passion Play have only staged one or two of its three parts, this triptych is absolutely stronger as a whole. While dreary, the first part does a fair amount of setting up,

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

MEL PRIESTLEY

MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ARTS 11

ARTS PREVUE // GRAPHIC NOVELS

Comixing it up

A winter round-up of graphic novels, from new-age myths to a tale of aging parents

T

hese info-motion days, shallow-thought bubbles of corporate jargon and mindfulness-balloons fired by new-age rhetoric float through the frames and panels of our chattering, screened-off networks. Rebooting oldworld stories with the cozy, comforting formulations of post-modern psychobabble, Eleanor Davis' How To Be Happy melds myth and management talk, legend and self-help speak, sci-fi and positivity patter. It's a fantastic idea only demi-fulfilled.

Befitting its myth-matter, Davis' art offers span and scope: broad-shouldered male silhouettes; the trunk-legged statue of a woman's "best self;" How To Be Happy the iconic faces

By Eleanor Davis and loomFantagraphics, 146 pp ing torsos $28.99 of seminar p a r t i c i p a n ts .

In-between long stories run brief interludes, often whisperingly pencilled—the eeriest may be the study of a fox pelt skinned by a group of women. "In Our Eden," the first long story, stamps striking, motif-like images around a man's serene platitudes and socio-political criticisms. Other entries drift, though. A ferryman's sepia-tinged story falters; the tale of two brothers' tenuous bond, though using shifts in scale wonderfully, seems out of place.

But then an interlude about a bus ride, suddenly breaking from its aptly cramped sense of cross-country coach-travel into a sublime full-page spread, soars. At its best, Davis' book tantalizingly snatches at something forlorn and yearning—ancient, primal needs for acceptance and belonging updated to the 21st century—about all that self-expression and earnest striving behind today's bubbles and balloons of double-talk.

Gast Carol Swain's

By Carol Swain Gast Gast, its charFantagraphics, 171 pp coal drawings $26.50 on nine-frame pages, patiently and quietly reflects its protagonist's pencilled notes and drawings in her field book.

Helen, who's just moved from a city in England

to the Welsh countryside, observes barn swallows, sheep, dogs and other creatures on her treks over hill and dale. But then she learns about a "rare bird" who killed himself—Emrys Bowen, not your typical farmer. The tale's too broken up by chapters (21 in all), but otherwise it's a lovely, gradual exploration of one introspective girl's faintly developing sense of herself, gently gained by her investigation of Emrys' outsider-status, her inquiry into the deaths of humans and animals, and her conversations with nature.

Wild nature is cooped-up in "civilized" space in Jaybird, Finnish siblings Lauri and Jaakko Ahonen's delightfully Gothic, short-film-like book. With its echoes of Psycho and shades of historical isolation and besiegement—remote Finland, taken over by the Russian Empire in the 19th century, then fought the Soviets twice and Germany once during the Second World War—this near-wordless story pitterpatters along in dark blue nightmare-visions, boarded-up and cobwebbed spaces, and sparse bedrooms.

One bedroom's where the title character tries to sleep, wide-eyed and often panicked about what's outside the cavernous house's walls; the other bedroom's where he tends to his sick mother by day. In-between are long halls dotted with framed photos of ancestors, a trinkets-garlanded rope Jaybird running

By Lauri and Jaakko Ahonen throughthese Dark Horse, 126 pp corridors, up $21.99 along the ceiling, so mother can call son any time by tugging a bellpull beside her bed. As a piece of wallpaper unfurls, though, or eyes peek in through a slat in boards nailed up over an opening, the story hastens towards a Poe-like ending. Both bayonets and beaks stab their spite and suspicion; nightmares gash and slash in black and white.

The gorgeously painted frames hurtle us helter-skelter through the scared little bird's paranoia to a spooky, dread sense of family haunts turned ghoulishly inward—parents are

Caretaking is what Roz Chast recounts herself doing for her aged parents in Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?. But, the New Yorker cartoonist notes, "I wasn't great as a caretaker, and they weren't great at being taken care of." Cartoonist Alison Bechdel has called Chast's style "quavery" (apt, given that Chast's father "chain-worried") but it's also faintly quizzical here and more gloriously quirky than usual in its observations of the idiosyncrasies of these two elders hemmed in by the small frames and tight panels of their little lives. (Chast's parentage explains so much of her magazine-cartoons' concerns.) So there's her fiery mother Elizabeth's declaration to husband George in their now grime-ridden Brooklyn apartment on September 12, 2001: "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to march right down to that Afghani restaurant around the corner and HAVE LUNCH THERE! I

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780-409-1910

FRINGETHEATRE.CA 12 ARTS

faded ghosts and siblings become mortal enemies. Home's remodelled as a fear-filled fortress and tomb in this sumptuously macabre little epic.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

The CSA Greenpatch Available in Crazy Horse Brown and Black

blundstone.ca

ARTIFACTS

Michael Harrison (Sun, Dec 14 – Fri, Dec 19) After spending a couple of years honing his craft here in Edmonton, stand-up comedian Michael Harrison left the city and started logging time and acclaim on the American college circuit. It’s earned him a spot at the Just for Laughs festival, a stint on MuchMusic’s Video on Trial, his own half-hour special and more.

Now, the continent-crossing comedian has a slew of local dates lined up over the holidays, with stints at the Empress (Dec 14th) Woodys (15th), Draft Bar & Grill (17th), Krush Nightclub (18th), and an emcee slot at YukYuks (19th).

Plenty of opportunities for mirth. (Various) Cinderella: A Traditional Christmas Pantomime/ Until Sat, Jan 3 Though both “Cinderella” and “traditional” are right there in the title, this musical comedy is looking to avoid being pegged as a simple retelling of the beloved fairy tale. In among the songs, slapstick comedy, gender-crossing performance and a character named Poutine De Pancake, the show’s been tailored to Fort Edmonton Park’s specifics—not just in terms of venue, but in references and knowing winks, too. (Capitol Theatre, $12 – $22)

in emotion—from grudging love to heartfelt melancholy—riffles and runs and turns into one twitchy, tender, ever-so-touching memorial and coming-to-terms story.

BRIAN GIBSON

BRIAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

L E S B A L L E T S T R O C K A D E R O D E M O N T E C A R L O I N S WA N L A K E | P H O T O : S A S C H A VA U G H N

want them to know that we don't think they're ALL nuts!"

Chast's magnificently episodic, unwaveringly candid, and often very funny (blackly, kookily and cringingly so) character study teems with such odd stubbornnesses, her parents' avoidance of death talk (because of family histories blotted by cholera, poverty, the Depression, the Second World War and the Holocaust), phone conversations, signs you're still in "Child Mode" with your parents, the epic cleaning-outof-the-home, suitably quaint caption-language ("scrimpings were scattered hither and yon"), bleak hospital- and then nursing home-visits or whimsical illustrations of "the moving sidewalk of life" or "Why tempt fate?" It's also poignantly broken up by, say, an actual photo of her dad and mom below Chast's writing of their names, marriage day, Chast's own birthday and their death dates. This Can’t We Talk About scrapbook Something More Pleasant? of not just

By Roz Chast parents-child Bloomsbury, 228 pp moments $33 but a daughter's surges

PAUL BLINOV

// PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

The Nutcracker Unhinged / Until Sat, Dec 12 (7:30 pm; 2 pm Sat matinee) Teatro La Quindicina’s annual holiday send-up will be its last at the Varscona as-is—with the building slated for a massive rebuild, the company will be presenting its next season from the Arts Barns across the street. Which seems all the more reason to go bask in the company’s witty, irreverent take on the season at hand, in a place that’s been like a family home to much of the theatre community. Also, there may or may not be mulled wine. (Varscona Theatre, $22 – $28)

1 2 0 2 y r a u Jan

7 8 0.4 2 8.6 8 3 9

Wannabe: Spice Girls Tribute Thu, Dec 11 – Sat, Dec 13 Is there some link between the holiday sentiment and ‘90s nostalgia? Wannabe, Canada’s best Spice Girls tribute act, came through town last year around this time and dazzled with its take on the ‘90s supergroup’s hits and style. The group’s back again this year by popular demand.

Zig-a-zig-ah. (Citadel Theatre, $35) V

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

ARTS 13

14 ARTS

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

* NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NUH-NA

This is how we VUE it!

ARTS WEEKLY EMAIL YOUR FREE LISTINGS TO: lIstINGs@VuEWEEkly.COM FAX: 780.426.2889 DEADLINE: FRIDay at 3PM

DANCE

• ageless art: Welcome to the Real World: Dec 18, 1-3pm; for mature adults; $15/$13.50 (Arts & Heritage member) • Preschool Picasso: Land & Sky; Dec 13, 10:30-11:30am; for 3-5 yrs; preregister; $10/$9 (Arts & Heritage member)

BEARCLAW GALLERY • 10403-124 St • CHRISTMAS SHOW: New works by Jane Ash Poitras, Jason Carter, Linus Woods, and others; Dec 6-31 BLUE CURVE GALLERY • Glenrose Hospital, Main Fl, 10230-111 Ave • Daily 10am-8pm • 780.735.7999/403.949.4991 • WHITE: Photography series by Karen Lee, exploring the graphic and atmospheric elements of winter • Until Dec 31

CHRISTMAS WITH EDMONTON TAP COLLECTIVE • Mercury Room, 10575-114 St •

CENTRE D’ARTS VISUELS DE L’ALBERTA (CAVA) • 9103-95 Ave • 780.461.3427 •

FILM CINEMA AT THE CENTRE • Stanley Milner Library Theatre, bsmt, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.496.7070 • Free film screening every Wed, 6:30pm • Home Alone (PG); Dec 17 • Free

FAVA • Ortona Arts Armoury, 9722-102 St • Cinema Lab/Laboratoire Du Cinéma: Dec 14, Jan 11, Feb 9, Mar 8, Apr 12, 12-5pm; $450/$75 (individual drop-in); pre-register at 780.429.1671

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 • Fantastic Mr. Fox (PG); Dec 12 • The Grand Budapest Hotel (14A); Dec 19

METRO • Metro at the Garneau Theatre, 8712109 St • 780.425.9212 • Reel Family Cinema: Big, Dec 6; Arthur Christmas, Dec 13; The Muppet Christmas Carol, Dec 20 • Global Visions Festival fundraiser: Brothers in the Buddha; Dec 6, 4:15pm; tickets at Ticketfly; facebook.com/ events/298157457044605 • Edmonton Movie Club: Lingaa; Dec 14 • Crime Watch: Die Hard 2; Dec 16 • Metro Bizarro: Last Night; Dec 17 • VuE WEEkly's 1000th IssuE: Reviewers Josek Braun and Brian Gibson will curate an evening of retrospective entertainment; 7pm (modern times), 9pm (Paris, Texas) THE SHORTEST DAY: COMEDY SHORT FILM CELEBRATION • Metro Cinema at the Garneau, 8712 - 109 St • A one-day crosscountry celebration of short films • Dec 21, 7pm • Free

GALLERIES + MUSEUMS ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL GALLERY • 10186-106 St • 780.488.6611 • albertacraft. ab.ca • FEatuRE GallERy: Well in Hand: Craft artists explore their own horse connections; until Dec 24 ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA (AGA) • 2 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.422.6223 • youraga. ca • Strange Dream: Artworks by Jill Stanton; until Dec 31 • A Moving Image: until Jan 4 • 90 x 90: Celebrating Art in Alberta: Part 2: until Jan 4 • SONAR: Sound Art Explorations by Edmonton Artists; until Jan 4 • BMO World of Creativity: World of Boo: Jason Carter and Bridget Ryan; until Apr 16 • VIEW FROM A WINDOW: Photos

by Edward Burtynsky, Robin Collyer, Eamon MacMahon, Laura St Pierre; Dec 6-Mar 1 • FUTURE STATION: 2015 ALBERTA BIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART: Jan 24-May 3 • Lecture: Daina Warren: Curating Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Dec 11; Kristy Trinier: Making a Biennial, Jan 25; Curator’s Tour of Future Station, Feb 28 • art For lunch: Reinventing the Home with Sara French, Dec 18 • Open studio adult Drop-In: Stamp: Card-making, Dec 17; Wed, 7-9pm; $18/$16 (AGA member) • SUBURBIA: A MODEL LIFE (Photographs 1970s-80s); Dec 6-Mar 1 • RBC New Works Gallery: OBSCURE INVERSIONS: Colin Smith; Dec 6-Mar 1 • all Day sundays: Art activities for all ages; Activities, 12-4pm; Tour; 2pm • late Night Wednesdays: Every Wed, 6-9pm

ART GALLERY OF ST ALBERT (AGSA) • 19 Perron St, St Albert • 780.460.4310 • artgalleryofstalbert.ca • OUR LUMINOUS LAND: Paintings

by Jim Visser; Dec 4-Jan 31, 2015; opening: Dec 4, 6-8:30pm ART GALLERY OF ST ALBERT (AGSA) • art Ventures: Gallery Studio: 3D Landscapes;

Dec 20, 1-4pm; drop-in art program for children ages 6-12; $6/$5.40 (Arts & Heritage member)

• vueweekly.com/1000-issue • A celebration kick-off for Vue Weekly's 1000th issue. Catered

by Culina and Iconoclast Koffiehuis, this event will feature a mobile gallery of 60 covers from the past 999 issues. See yourself on the cover of Vue Weekly and so much more • Dec 10, 6-9pm Strathcona Place Senior Centre, 10831 University Ave, 109 St, 78 Ave • 780.433.5807 • seniorcentre.org • HIS LINES MADE HISTORY: Works by Ontario artist C.W. Jeffreys • Until Dec 17

BUGERA MATHESON GALLERY • 10345-

SUGAR FOOT SWING DANCE • Sugar Swing, 10545-81 Ave • 587.786.6554 • sugarswing. com • Swing Dance Social every Sat; beginner lesson starts at 8pm. All ages and levels welcome. Occasional live music–check web • $10, $2 lesson with entry

ICONOCLAST KOFFIEHUIS • 11807-105 Ave

JEFF ALLEN ART GALLERY (JAAG) •

BOLSHOI BALLET–LIVE • Cineplex Theatres • Cineplex.com/Movie/the-nutcracker-thebolshoi-ballet-live • The Nutcracker • Dec 21, 1-3pm

Some of Edmonton's finest Tap Dancers and Live Musicians in an evening of holiday fun • Dec 22, 7:30pm • $15

set in worlds that have experienced distinct or drastic environmental alterations; Dec 11-Jan 22 • Front Room: How Would Mary Feel? by Lori Victor; Dec 11-Jan 22

LANDO GALLERY • 103, 10310-124 St •

124 St • bugeramathesongallery.com • ALL WRAPPED UP: Featuring works for the Holiday Season; Dec 6-25

780.990.1161 • landogallery.com • HOLIDAY EXHIBITION: New works by gallery artists and secondary market works • Opens Dec 3

LATITUDE 53 • 10242-106 St • 780.423.5353

savacava.com • MINIATURES AND MORE: More than 35 visual artists in an exhibition of minature paintings. Includes the artwork of Gilles Lavoie; Dec 5-23

• Main space: CLASSROOM OF CULTURE REFLECTION—CONFUCIUS: City Edmonton Project, photogram-based floor pieces by Jing Yuan Huang • Until Jan 17

CITY HALL • 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square •

LOFT GALLERY • AJ Ottewell Gallery, 590

theworks.ab.ca/places-media • Art in the heART of The City Visual Art Exhibit: Features artists who are creating in the inner city neighbourhoods of McCauley and Boyle • Dec 2-Dec 18

Broadmoor Blvd, Sherwood Park • 780.449.4443 • artstrathcona.com • Open: Fri-Sun 10-6pm • ACACA ALBERTA WIDE ART SHOW: Presented by the Alberta Community Art Clubs Association

CREATIVE PRACTICES INSTITUTE • 10149-122 ST, 780.863.4040 •

MACEWAN UNIVERSITY CAFÉ–City Centre Campus • Rm 7-266 • ARTIFACTS:

creativepracticesinstitute.com • BRIDGE: Works

by Sergio Serrano; until Jan 17

Paintings by Michelle Lavoie • Until Jan 28

DAFFODIL GALLERY • 10412-124 St •

8440-112 St • 780.407.7152 • The Iconic Alberta Rose: Cindy Barratt and Susan Casault.

Mixed media of Alberta’s provincial flower including paintings, drawings, and collections of historical items; Dec 11-Feb 1; opening reception: Dec 11, 7-9pm

MCMULLEN GALLERY • U of A Hospital,

780.760.1278 • Christmas Group Show; Dec 9-24

DIXON GALLERY • 12310 Jasper Ave • 780.200.2711 • Richard Dixon's Studio and Gallery featuring a collection of historical Canadian artworks; antique jade sculptures and jewellery; 17th Century bronze masterworks and artworks by Richard Dixon

DOUGLAS UDELL GALLERY (DUG) •

MULTICULTURAL CENTRE PUBLIC ART GALLERY (MCPAG)–Stony Plain • 541151 St, Stony Plain • multicentre.org • Digital Photography by David Kleinsasser; Nov 29-Jan 2

10332-124 St • douglasudellgallery.com • WINTER SHOW: Latest work by gallery artists, Michael Batty, Graham Fowler, Jessica Korderas, John Macdonald, Erik Olson, Tim Okamura, Jim Park, Harry Savage, David Thauberger and more; Dec 13-24; opening: Dec 13, 2-4pm

MUSÉE HÉRITAGE MUSEUM–St Albert •

DRAWING ROOM • 10253-97 St •

• 780.432.0240 • paintspot.ca • Main: IMAGINE (a place of dwellings): Oil paintings by Cynthia Booth; until Dec 31 • artisan Nook: SMALL TEMPTATIONS: Group show of small art-works and hand-crafted objects; until Dec 31 • Gold Leaf Application: Demo; Dec 11, 7-7:30pm • Sculptural Ornaments: Demo; Dec 18, 7-7:30pm

780.760.7284 • TELEGRAPH HILL: Coup Boutique and Drawing Room present paintings by Charlotte Falk • Until Dec 24

ELLIS BUILDING LOFTS • 10123-112 St • ART LOFT – Episode #2: held at private lofts in downtown YEG. Enjoy music, food, and libations while being surrounded by and electrifying silent / live art auction • Dec 12, 8-11pm • All inclusive food/drink tickets: $40 (regular), $60 (Cognac Experience)

ENTERPRISE SQUARE GALLERIES • 10230 Jasper Ave • Open: Thu-Fri, 12-6pm, Sat 12-4pm • DISCOVERING DINOSAURS: until Jan 31 • aGa at Enterprise square Galleries: SONAR: Sound Art Explorations by Edmonton Artists; until Jan 4 • POP POP: A DESIGN POP UP SHOP: Locally made goods available for purchase include print objects, home wares, fine art and everything in-between; Dec 1-14; thesda.ca/poppop • Extension Gallery: Enterprise square atrium:

NORTHERN NURSING–A LIFE IN PORTRAITS: Works by Heather Clayton; daily until Dec 17

FAB GALLERY • 1-1 Fine Arts Bldg, 89 Ave,

NINA HAGGERTY CENTRE STOLLERY GALLERY • 9225-118 Ave • 780.474.7611

112 St • 780.426.4180 • Main space: Alison Hitner: This exhibition will concentrate on films

CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES – NEW YEAR’S EVE SHOW • Capitol Theatre, Fort

WEST END GALLERY • 12308 Jasper Ave • 780.488.4892 • westendgalleryltd.com • JINGLE & MINGLE: Group exhibit; Dec 6-31

YMCA (Don Wheaton) • 10211-102 Ave • yMCa Community Canvas wall: Rotating year

round exhibits • UNCANNY BREACH: Works by Lucille Frost; Until Jan 2015

LITERARY AUDREYS BOOKS • 10702 Jasper Ave • Sheldon L'henaff "Joy (Maybe This Christmas)" book launch; Dec 11, 7pm CULTURE COLLECTIVE HOLIDAY ARTS MARKET • Yellowhead Brewery, 10229-105 St • culturecollective.ca • Holiday arts market and variety show • Dec 11, 7-10pm • $10 (adv at eventbrite.com, Bamboo Ballroom/door)

THE EDMONTON POETRY BROTHEL: HOWL • Brittany's Lounge, 10225-97 St

Edmonton Park • A family friendly show loosely based on the well known fairy tale • Dec 31 • fortedmontonpark.ca/events

CINDERELLA • Capitol Theatre, Fort Edmonton • A Traditional Christmas Pantomime, a family friendly musical comedy production including songs, slapstick comedy and gender-crossing actors • Dec 10-Jan 3 • $12 (mat adult/senior/ chld); $22 (evening, adult)/$18 (senior)/$15 (child under 12) • Christmas Pantomimes–New Year’s Eve Show Dec 31 2pm DIE-NASTY • Varscona Theatre, 10329-83 Ave • varsconatheatre.com • Live improvised soap opera • Runs Every Mon, 7:30pm • Until Jun 1; no show on Dec 22 and 29 • $13 or $9 with a $30 membership; at the door (cash) or at tixonthesquare.com HEY LADIES! • Roxy, 10708-124 St •

• a carnal celebration of music, dance, and both public and private poetry readings.

With special guest: Edmonton Poet Laureate Mary Pinkoski. 18+ only • Dec 13-14, 9pm-midnight • $10 (door) • facebook.com/ events/568796836585311

780.453.2440 • theatrenetwork.ca • Theatre Network • Womanly talkshow/gameshow/varietyshow/sideshow starring Leona Brausen, Cathleen Rootsaert, Davina Stewart and Noel Taylor, • $25 at TIX on the Square • Nov 28-May 22, irregular performance dates • Feb 27, Apr 24, May 22, 2015, 8pm • $25 at TIX on the Square

EDMONTON STORY SLAM • Daravara,

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE RADIO SHOW

10713-124 St • edmontonstoryslam.com • 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

ROUGE LOUNGE • 10111-117 St •

• thenina.ca • BEHOLD!: Artists from Youth Empowerment and Support Services; • Nov 29-Dec 21

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

PETER ROBERTSON GALLERY • 12304 Jasper Ave • 780.455.7479 • probertsongallery. com • Featuring new work from gallery artists including Tricia Firmaniuk • Dec 13-Jan 6

SCRIPT SALON • Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Upper Arts Space, 10037-84 Ave • A Monthly Play Reading Series: 1st Sun ea month With A Different Play By A Different Playwright

PRINCE OF WALES ARMOURIES HERITAGE CENTRE • 10440-108 Ave •

TALES–Monthly Storytelling Circle •

projectheroes.ca • Project Heroes: The Faces and Stories of Sacrifice: Get to know the Canadian soldiers who died in the Afghanistan war through their eyes, in photographs, videos and letters • Nov 3-Mar 4 • info@projectheroes.ca

Ave • 780.453.9100 • royalalbertamuseum.ca 28-Apr 12 • NOWHERE PEOPLE: Photos, giving a human face to the global issue of statelessness,

by Greg Constantine; Dec 6-Mar 22

SNAP GALLERY • Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists, 10123-121 St • 780.423.1492 • snapartists.com • SNAP Members Show and Sale; Dec 6-20

SPRUCE GROVE ART GALLERY • 35-5 Ave, Spruce Grove • 780.962.0664 • alliedartscouncil.com • Main Gallery: SNOW: Member Novelty Show; until Jan 24 • Fireplace Room: Donna Fillion; through Dec STRATHCONA PUBLIC LIBRARY • 8331-

HARCOURT HOUSE GALLERY • 3 Fl, 10215-

10322-83 Ave • EQUINOX: Alberta Society of Artists show open during the run of Six Degrees of Separation • Dec 3-13

• Capitol Theatre, Fox Dr NW & Fort Edmonton Park Rd • A classic holiday tale of despair and redemption performed as a 1940s radio broadcast by a cast in full period costume with live music and sound effects • Dec 18-23 • $18

NPCC ROCK CHOIR AND BAND • North

• WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR: Nov

• happyharborcomics.com • Artist-in-Residence: DANIEL HACKBORN; until Apr 25, 2015 • OPEN DOOR: Collective of independent comic creators meet the 2nd & 4th Thu each month; 7pm

WALTERDALE THEATRE GALLERY •

Theatre • Adapted by Tom Wood, based on the story by Charles Dickens, directed by Bob Baker, starring James MacDonald as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Recommended for ages 7+ • Nov 29-Dec 23

• vzenari@gmail.com • Prose Creative Writing Group • Every Tue, 7-9pm

ROYAL ALBERTA MUSEUM • 12845-102

HAPPY HARBOR COMICS • 10729-104 Ave

A CHRISTMAS CAROL • Citadel Maclab

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE • 9351-118 Ave

thefrontgallery.com • Works by Kari Due and Tom Gale • Dec 13-29 • Opening: Dec 13, 2-4pm

GALLERY AT MILNER • Stanley A. Milner Library Main Fl, Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.944.5383 • epl.ca/art-gallery • Gallery Walls: Water and Light: Photographs by Chan Hawkins; Dec 1-31

visualartsalberta.com • Violet Owen: Modern Woman; Dec 11-Jan 24; Opening Reception: Dec 11, 7-9:30pm

NAESS GALLERY • Paint Spot, 10032-81 Ave

FRONT GALLERY • 12312 Jasper Ave •

St, St Albert • 780.459.2525 • Oil paintings by Marina Bazox and Olga Duc • Until Dec 22

VAA GALLERY • 3rd Fl, 10215-112 St •

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)

GHOSTS OF JERUSALEM: Abstract photography series • Nov 29-Dec 25

GALLERY 7 • Bookstore on Perron, 7 Perron

Gallery, Main Fl, 116 St, 89 Ave • LOIS HOLE: THE QUEEN OF HUGS; until Mar 22

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

REMEDY CAFÉ–DT • 10279 Jasper Ave •

Park • 780.410.8585 • strathcona.ca/artgallery • THE BLUE HOUR: Megan Hahn's photo transparencies; Until Dec 21 • Lina Ma: oil; Dec 23-Jan 26

U OF A MUSEUMS • Human Ecology Bldg

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 13

5 St Anne St, St Albert • 780.459.1528 • TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT: Explore St Albert through the lens of young photographers • Until Jan 18• Reception: Dec 4, 6–8:30pm

112 St • 780.492.2081 • Art & Design 50th Anniversary Exhibition curated show; Dec 9-20, Jan 2-10

GALLERY@501 • 501 Festival Ave, Sherwood

$26.50 (adult)/$19.50 (child 3-12)/$23.50 (youth 13-17), student, senior)

104 St • 780.496.1828 • Landscapes, birds, and still life paintings by Svetlana Troitskaia • Until Jan 2

TELUS WORLD OF SCIENCE • 11211-142 St • telusworldofscienceedmonton.com • GPS ADVENTURES CANADA EXHIBITION: Combining technology, nature, and hidden treasure; until Jun 1, 2015 • INDIANA JONES™ AND THE ADVENTURE OF ARCHAEOLOGY: until Apr 6, 2015;

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

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

THEATRE THE 11 O'CLOCK NUMBER • Varscona Theatre, 10329-83 Ave • 90 minutes of improvised entertainment that unveils scenes, songs and choreographed numbers completely off the cuff based on audience suggestions • Every Fri, until Jun 26, 11pm (no shows Dec 26, Jan 2, Jan 9) • $15 (online, at the door) • grindstonetheatre.ca BEST LITTLE NEWFOUNDLAND CHRISTMAS PAGEANT...EVER! • Varscona Theatre, 10329 - 83 Ave • What has the potential to be the worst Pageant ever turns out to be the best one as everyone learns the true meaning of Christmas • Dec 18-22, 7:30pm; 2pm on Dec 20-21) • $24, $20 (seniors/students and children under 15 years & matinees)

CHRISTMAS CAROL PROJECT • Westbury Theatre, ATB Financial Arts Barns • A musical interpretation of Dickens’ classic tale and features original songs written from the perspectives of the various characters • Dec 19-20 • $37.50 (adv), $42.50 (door)

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

MAESTRO • Citadel Theatre, 9828-101A Ave •

Pointe Community Church, 14025-167 Ave • Dec 14, 9:30am, 11am, 12:30pm • Free • northpointechurch.ca

PASSION PLAY • MacEwan Centre for the Arts Theatre Lab, Rm 189, 10045-155 St • Presented by Wild Side Productions by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Jim Guedo, starring Robert Benz, Amber Borotsik, Braydon Dowler-Coltman, Belinda Cornish, Nathan Cuckow, Jesse Gervais, Kristi Hansen, Dave Horak, Cody Porter, Natasha Prasad and Fred Zbryski • Dec 6-14 • $25-$35 at TIX on the Square

SHERLOCK HOLMES • Jubilations Dinner Theatre • The greatest detective in the world, Sherlock Holmes, is retiring and his old chum and confidant Dr. Watson is throwing a farewell dinner • Until Jan 31

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION • Walterdale Theatre, 10322-83 Ave • Director Louise Large.

Inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier • Dec 3-13, 8pm, tue-Sat; Sun mat at 2pm • $12-$18 at TIX on the Square THAT'S TERRIFIC • Varscona Theatre • last Sat ea month • Nov 29-Jul 25 THEATRESPORTS • Citadel's Zeidler Hall, 9828-101A Ave • rapidfiretheatre.com • Improv • Every Fri, 7:30pm and 10pm • Until Dec 12; Jan 16-Jun 12 • $12/$10 (member) at TIX on the Square

TOP OF THE POPS: A BRITISH ROCK INVASION • Mayfield Dinner Theatre • Celebrating all things British. From the '60s to the '70s, the new wave of the '80s, right up to the superstars of today, Top Of The Pops captures it all. With the Beatles, the Stones, the Hollies, the Who, Adele, Amy Winehouse and more • Until Feb 1

YULETIDE YETI • Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre, 8426 Gateway Boulevard Northwest • With no time to spare, Mrs. Claus and a yeti named George must learn to get along and help each other through the storm so they can be reunited with their loved ones for Christmas • Dec 20; 12pm, 2pm, 4pm (includes access to puppet making craft activity area) • $15 or buy two get one free and are available through the Box Office

ARTS 15

REVUE // HORROR

FILM

FILM EDITOR: PAUL BLINOV PAUL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Sat, Dec 13 – Tue, Dec 16 Directed by Jennifer Kent Metro Cinema at the Garneau  Only in dreams

W

as it only a dream? Six-yearold Sam (Noah Wiseman) wakes up in the middle of the night and scurries to his mother's bed. He was having a nightmare, but so was Amelia (Essie Davis), or so it seems during The Babadook's arresting, morbidly beautiful opening. We see Amelia, head and shoulders fixed in the frame, surrounded by void, jostled as though in an accident, then buoyed, eyes wide, as though suddenly submerged. Amelia's dream, we'll eventually learn, is an echo of past experience, while Sam's bogeyman may just be something all too real.

What's real and what's a dream? In Australian director Jennifer Kent's terrifyingly confident debut the daylight drapes everything in a patina of real-

ism, yet those interiors, especially in Amelia's house, with its blue walls, doors and mouldings, possess an otherworldly dollhouse drabness, a little like Aki Kaurismäki's colour-noir lighting, except in this case the décors seem more in keeping with the esthetic of a sinister, austere children's book. In The Babadook, just such a book is the trigger for nightmares and waking life to merge into a single stream.

The best horror films for adults, I mean the ones that lodge themselves in some corner of your psyche where rational thinking helplessly dissolves, are the ones where the scariest things are the real things. In the first, best third of The Babadook, nothing is scarier than the notion of being a wid-

owed single mother with a potentially monstrous child—in certain ways, The Babadook is the crisper, leaner version of Xavier Dolan's Mommy. (It's also strikingly similar in its themes to the recent Austrian film Goodnight Mommy, which I hope someone will screen here sometime soon.) Sam is turning into a menace in his first-grade classroom, and he's just as unruly when Amelia takes him to visit his relatives. What's more, his nightmares have become nightly, driving both he and Amelia batty with sleep deprivation. (Which I can tell you, speaking as a lifelong insomniac, is one of the ways that dreams and reality can get troublingly blurred.) And when Amelia's not struggling to control Sam's erratic, sometimes violent be-

REVUE // COMEDY

peculiar breed of anti-ode to a wing of literary culture that may not exist anymore, writer-director Alex Ross Perry's third feature Listen Up Philip might be best regarded as a bloodless, SFX-free monster movie.

The monster in question is grumpy, high-strung Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman), whom we first meet on his way to meeting an exgirlfriend who he quickly excoriates for her woeful paucity of encouragement or respect for him, a very impor-

16 FILM

And here's one more turn of the screw: Sam's birthday is also the anniversary of his father's death, and Amelia's reluctance to celebrate it is one sign of her protracted, debilitating grief—and such levels of grief, in the realm of The Babadook, can manifest as something like demonic possession. This is where Kent started to lose me a little. The film's title comes from a mysterious children's book that might be stalking the characters. A marvellous tension thrives in the film's initial ambiguities. Again: what's dream? what's

other situation Philip can continue to behave arrogantly, cruelly and with a sense of utter entitlement.

Listen Up Philip A

haviour, she's working in the dementia ward of a nursing home, which isn't going to help anyone's grip on reality.

Dude, chill out

tant, or surely soon-to-be important, youngish, famousish New York novelist, whose second novel, Obidant, is about to be published.

Fangs still dripping, Philip walks out on his ex and promptly moves on to attack an old, wheelchair-bound friend whom he also bitchily dismisses for his lack of value as a human being ... before Philip moves onto his agent, whom he also dresses down. As Listen Up goes along Philip will continue to mostly treat others, most notably his current, though

also soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, Ashley Kane (Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss), monstrously. The great exception to his reign of verbal terror is Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), the famous, once celebrated, now mostly tolerated novelist who seems like a more successful yet nonetheless deeply embittered elderly version of Philip. Ike recognizes this, takes Philip under his wing, gets him a teaching gig and lends him his summer home to work in. So Philip sort of has to uphold his respect for Ike. In every

Will any of this seize your attention if you aren't already an ardent fan of Listen Up Philip's overt sources of literary inspiration, namely the work of Philip Roth? Because, listen, while I can admire Listen Up Philip's interesting and unusual narrative structure—I really do like how it shifts from character to character—and while I maybe enjoyed some of the squirm-inducing, occasionally funny scenes of Philip bullishly bullying everyone in his life who he feels fails to appreciate him—which is to say, everyone in his life—and while the film's sense of place is clearly meticulous and its performances exacting, I can't help but wonder if the enthusiasm so many of my fellow critics have brought to their assessments of this film isn't overwhelmingly informed by the pleasure taken in being in on the joke, so to speak, by recognizing the snooty, privileged, over-educated, mythifying, academonized, alcohol-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

real? what's madness, anxiety, grief, trauma? This is the sort of ambiguity that Roman Polanski excels at in films such as Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. The Babadook never completely succumbs to horrortrope autopilot, but in the over-extended hysteria of its climax it does start to feel a little too much like The Ring 2. Anyway, I won't quibble too much. There's enough here that gets under your skin and past the guards of your unconscious, and Kent's use of space, light, sound and performance is very impressive.

Whether you like spooky movies or not, watch out for this name.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Fri, Dec 12 – Thu, Dec 18 Directed by Alex Ross Perry Metro Cinema at the Garneau  fuelled, white-bread garden Perry so scrupulously tends to. Perry's protagonist is a compulsive bridge-burner and insufferable asshole—that's exactly what he's meant to be and exactly what everyone in the movie reminds him that he is. I've nothing against a movie taking on such a character as its protagonist, and I don't think having an unlikable protagonist generally is as problematic for audiences as some pundits would make it seem. (Hey, the hero in Five Easy Pieces isn't exactly an easy guy to like, and look what that movie did for Jack Nicholson.) My problem is that this protagonist is boring. I'm not that into spending time with him, and it's tough to see why most of these other characters are. So let's say Listen Up Philip is a good movie that's hard to like. But by all means, read Philip Roth!

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ASPECTRATIO

Sentimental aspects

Vue's resident film critics reflect on 1000 issues (next week!) and offer up a double bill of their own

JOSEF BRAUN

years (!!) my exceedingly patient, hat's 1000 issues of Vue? For hard-working editors, Paul Matwyme, who has contributed to chuk, Carolyn Nikodym, David Berry most of them, it's a vertigo-inducing and Paul Blinov, have allowed me tower of paper and ink containing to do that with virtually no censormore ideas, opinions, bad jokes and ship or impositions of any kind (save strong sentiments about movies than those star ratings I still find loathI will ever recall. It's opportunities some), and in reviews of a length that's rare in these to think with a days of knee-jerk, pen or keyboard, Thu, Dec 11 tweet-sized apto explore freely Modern Times (7 pm) praisals. I've never the myriad ways Paris, Texas (9 pm) been a member of a single person Metro Cinema at the Garneau Vue's can try to articuVue staff, but I've always been made late a response to art and share that response in some to feel I have a stake in what it is hopefully meaningful way with a Vue does.

So this is my thanks to Vue on its readership. As well as to try to give that readership—meaning you, dear 1000th issue, for taking a chance on reader—some context with which to me in the first place—when I started, absorb these works: movies are kind Vue didn't even run their own movie of about everything, and we're still, reviews—and for keeping me on thankfully, figuring out what they and for running against the current.

But this is also a thanks to mighty can do.

An open mind, some sense of the Metro Cinema, our stalwart cinemahistory, a genuinely deep love for theque, for always giving Edmontothe medium, as well as a love of lan- nians something worth watching— guage and voice and the possibility and for contributing enormously to of adding to a conversation about my cinema education. I got lucky in something bigger than any one mov- that from the start I was assigned ie: these are the things I've tried, the Metro beat and hurled into new with varying degrees of success, to cine-realms: the astonishing innovabring to this publication. And for 15 tions made in Iranian cinema immedi-

W

ately spring to mind as one of many mind-blowing movie-going experiences I had in those early days. And I have to thank Metro for helping Vue celebrate its 1000th issue with a special Aspect Ratio double bill, two masterworks selected from among a handful of favourites suggested by Brian Gibson and I—which brings me to a place called Paris, Texas...

An interrogation of American life and landscape, directed by a German, photographed by a Dutchman, financed with European money, written and scored by Americans, performed by an international cast—the arresting convergence of cultures is right there in the title—Paris, Texas (1984) remains one of the most mysterious and moving pictures I know.

The first half finds Walt (Dean Stockwell) driving his long-lost—and apparently mute—brother Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) back to California, where Walt and his wife live with Travis's seven-year-old son Hunter.

The second half finds Travis, who gradually recovers his voice, reunited with Hunter, whom he kinda kidnaps and takes to Texas, where Travis believes he can find Hunter's mother and Travis' wife, Jane (Nastassja Kin-

ski), who, like Travis, vanished four years ago. Their reunion takes place in a sort of peep show, on either side of the one-way glass. Travis can see her; Jane she can't see him. Travis speaks into a telephone; Jane communicates through a speaker on the other side. They tell stories that may or may not be precise retellings of their troubled love and its collapse.

Over the course of Paris, Texas Travis goes from being voiceless to nothing but voice, a disembodied phantom from Jane's past who's come back to restore something—what exactly is a little ambiguous and more than a little heart-breaking.

The script came from great play-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

wright and handsome actor Sam Shepard, though the peep-show device came from Kit Carson. The director is Wim Wenders, who, at his best, possesses a unique sensitivity to places and how people inhabit them, and to the ways movies can grasp hold of uncontainable feelings.

Wenders has made few movies of anything like this calibre since, but the fact is that Paris, Texas represents the peak effort of every artist involved. It is transporting. Certain moments still feel like something close to a miracle to me. I hope you can all check it out.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 >>

FILM 17

FILM << CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

WANTS TO SEND YOU AND A FRIEND TO SEE

One of ten run-of-engagement passes to the lm during it’s run in Edmonton.

F ive winners will also receive a digital copy of the soundtrack as well.

BRIAN GIBSON Ever since serendipity struck and I became a film reviewer at Vue, back in the fall of 2002, it's been one of those rare jobs that never feels like a clock-punch or a grind.

For every excruciating movie, you can serve up a dish of cold revenge in 350 words. (The time- and spacepressure of deadlines and word counts are fantastic limitations, forcing maximum concision and clarity week after week.) The job's a passion, an ardent vocation, like my full-time gig—as a professor of English lit and film studies—and the two dovetail beautifully ... but never more so than when I got to

review Metro's Chaplin retrospective a few years back, even as I teach the toothbrush-moustached master's films year after year to English undergraduates.

There was Shakespeare in the midst of one of Western drama's golden ages, as all the world became a stage—for conquest, capitalism and colonization. There was Dickens when novels, serialized, were anticipated with a fervour unparalleled in the epoch of print culture. And there was Chaplin, when today's screen culture truly began—as cinema was unspooling in its visually purest, most popular era. Of all this cine-comic genius' works, none is more delightfully anarchic, politically savage and fiercely feminist than the Depression era's exultant Modern Times (1936). Take these three scenes alone: When the factory boss suddenly appears on a screen in the bathroom to bark at the smoking Factory Worker/Tramp, "Get back to work!," there's a creepy foreshadowing of surveillance culture. It's a CCTV-bossiness echoed in the blinking red light of the ordergiving computer console or the red eye in each waiting-room portrait surrounding Monsieur Hulot in the vast office tower of Tati's Playtime (1967), a red eye staring unnervingly at humans again in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

When Chaplin's Worker/Tramp suffers a breakdown and uncontrollably wrenches nut-like objects, including those on the chest-front of a woman's dress, it may be the first film moment to show how the

repetitive, deadening, mechanical work for a male assembly-line worker can turn him into an unfeeling, sexually violating serial attacker— the decidedly non-Wonka, chocolate-factory opening of Dahmer (2002), with Jeremy Renner, ever so distantly echoes this sequence.

When we first see Paulette Goddard's Gamine, she's holding a knife between her teeth, eyes flashing as she taunts those who'd stop her stealing bananas to feed her family. She's part-primate, part-pirate and all ways an ever-moving, flouncing, mischievous, rebellious force. Joyfully, we're left with the Tramp and Gamine's bright, free, spirited bodies, prevailing over the factory's cold, slavish, tick-tock metal machinations.

The Tramp's last trip and Chaplin's American Dream-deadenedby-mechanization masterpiece, Modern Times looks ahead to any moment when Western society is foolish enough to put too much faith in machines, or networks, or technological tools. And it's those 21st-century masters of the body's movement through work, workplaces and grinding social realities, the Dardenne brothers—my favourite filmmakers working today— who discuss Chaplin's Modern Times for one DVD edition. Their films and the films of cinema's first master wonder: how much does our job become our life? And what impression do we stamp out, what rut do we drudge and trudge down, to leave behind for the next generation, about to start their first shift?

V

REVUE // DOCUMENTARY

Soundtrack Album On Republic Motion Picture Artwork, Photos ©2014 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. This compilation 2014 Republic Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. 1755 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Distributed by Universal Music Distribution.

All rights reserved.

IN THEATERS DECEMBER 25 CONTEST CLOSES DECEMBER 31 Winners will be noti ed by email on Jan 2

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18 FILM

Citizenfour R

ounding out a trilogy of documentary examinations about post-9/11 politics that started with My Country, My Country in 2006 and continued with The Oath in 2010, Citizenfour is Laura Poitras' chronicle of ex-NSA system administrator Edward Snowden's June 2013 leaking of classified information regarding the US government's surveillance at home and abroad. Not wanting to simply dump his information willy-nilly, Snowden chose Poitras and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill as his first media filters, so Citizenfour is very much a first-person account of an event in which Poitras has personal stakes.

If you've followed the Snowden scandal at all the film will function less as revelation than a deeper—if one sided—contextualization and an expansion

on what we already know about the NSA's violations of civilian privacy under the ostensible purposes of counter-terrorism. It's also something of a personal profile of Snowden, framed and scored (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) as a paranoid thriller. It's difficult to say how much this aspect of Citizenfour fit with Snowden's own interests. Considering that Snowden claims he doesn't like the media's emphasis on the personal lives of newsworthy figures, Poitras spends an awful lot of time on his grooming habits, which, not too surprisingly, makes for some of the film's more boring moments, though certain colourful details about their initial meetings, such as Snowden's informing Poitras and Greenwald that they'll recognize him as the guy in the Hong Kong hotel playing with a Rubik's Cube, are hard to resist.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

Counter-counter-terrorism

Now playing Directed by Laura Poitras 

It's hard to avoid calling Citizenfour essential viewing: its contribution to the greater conversation about shifting cultural values in the digital age and the distribution and misuse of power is enormous. Its value as a piece of cinema or broad assessment is shakier, and its deployment of genre tropes to bolster an aura of heroism around all involved strikes me as more problematic. This is a film to see, to talk about, to weigh and to not take for granted on any level.

JOSEF BRAUN

JOSEF@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

FILM 19

SNOW ZONE

EDITOR: REBECCA MEDEL REBECCA@VUEWEEKLY.COM

FEATURE // SNOWBOARDING

// Ben Giesbrech

ech

// Ben Giesbr

20 SNOW ZONE

'W

e're not crazy," laughs Will Fraser.

That would depend on who you ask, though. Fraser and his friends are spending a freezing-cold afternoon launching themselves down a wooden handrail on their snowboards. A miss would mean soft bodies meeting 30 hard stairs at terminal velocity.

They're snowboarders, but they don't limit themselves to groomed runs at ski hills. Come winter, Edmonton is the canvas where they can build jumps to slide down rails or benches or launch themselves off concrete urban features.

It's -32 C and crystal-clear outside; Fraser and friends Matt Tam and Eric Martin are on a hill overlooking Edmonton's Riverdale neighbourhood.

The city was just covered in 40 centimetres of snow, and the rooftops and trees tucked into the river valley below look like frosted cakes. What frustrates others—the crappy streets and back-breaking shovelling—is a gift to these young guerilla riders.

"It makes Edmonton in the winter bearable," Tam says, his feet strapped into his board and a smile crinkling his peach-fuzz moustache. "We have eight months of snow, so you might as well

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

enjoy it. It's all over the city, so everywhere you go it's your playground."

Recon is central. The river valley is an obvious choice, a huge and accessible hilly swath right through Edmonton's middle. But industrial parks, apartment blocks, universities and municipal buildings can all be prime boarding spots.

Logistics come next—you need a plan of attack. Ramps and landings are handmade. If there's no hill around, you can use a bungee cord, truck, snowmobile or a human push to get momentum.

"A lot more effort goes into this," Martin says. "You've gotta pack down the path, you've gotta build some lips and you've gotta find a good area to do it. It's definitely more effort, but it can be more rewarding."

At its best, this kind of riding is an art. A wall, staircase or concrete slab becomes part of the rider's flow and imagination. It's a whole other way of interacting with the urban environment—these guys can, and do, use almost anything to flip, spin or slide on.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21 >>

NO LIFTS, NO PROBLEM << CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

It's like a real-life video game, where physics and imagination are the only limitations. But unlike a video game, mistakes could mean concussions, broken bones or worse.

"A lot of the stuff we're doing is a little more difficult and high consequence," Fraser says. "There have been times I know that if I would've fallen to the left I could've died or broken a bone for sure. Last year I was knocked out while gapping a rail.

But I don't regret it at all—I would do it all over again."

For a prairie city, Edmonton is well known in the snowboarding world.

World-class riders travel to Dirt City early in the winter because, hey, we've always got snow. These pros use the river valley, and especially Louise McKinney Park, known to riders as the Rail Garden, to film their video parts.

Indeed, for the 2013 X Games Real Snow competition, where riders created 60-second film shorts of street riding, four of the top-10 videos had shots of Edmonton. The classic wooden handrails featured heavily, as well as riders flipping off the base supports to the High Level Bridge.

The winning video had Québécois

pro Louis-Felix Paradis nose press a wooden handrail before hopping over the walkway to the Edmonton Queen Riverboat.

The videos are a big part of it—riders from around the world share what they're doing, encouraging and challenging the development of the sport. Fraser is part of an Edmonton collective called Shoulda' Danished Productions, a group that makes boundary-bending snowboard videos.

"A lot of the questions that I've been asking recently are: 'what can snowboarding be?'" Fraser says.

"We did a snowboarding operetta, a failed snowboarding musical and a snowboarding rap video. But can snowboarding be a play, can you snowboard without a hill? We try to intermingle many arts and push it all together to create something that's potentially never been seen before."

Fraser, Tam and Martin have been snowboarding for years and have the skills to prove it. But they say you don't have to be a pro to enjoy street riding—and in the end, it's all about enjoying Edmonton 12 months of the year.

"You've gotta have a lot of confidence and that's really all it is," Fraser says. "Don't be stupid, but just believe in what you can do."

// Dale Bailey

JOSH MARCELLIN

JOSH@VUEWEEKLY.COM

HART GOLBECK// HART@VUEWEEKLY.COM

First tracks at Marmot // Jeff Bartlett

Recipe for the ultimate ride Pack 30 to 40 centimetres of preseason snow, drop the temperature to about -30 C, dump 80 cm of powder on top, slowly bring the temperature back up to -5 C and you've got a recipe for ultimate ski conditions. It might seem easy enough, but these conditions don't come together that often—but they did this year and then some.

All of the mountain resorts have great snow conditions and some opened earlier than planned because the deep powder was too good to pass up. It appears Marmot Basin caught the brunt of the storm, forcing short early-morning delays so operations staff could dig themselves out, prepare lift areas and stabilize some of the slopes. Nobody really minds an hour or two delay to lay fresh tracks in 75-cm pow do they? Usually we wait until mid-December and later for the minimal 60-cm base at Marmot, but there's no wait this year—it's already 80 cm and climbing.

Jam those rails The event calendars are starting to fill up. Rail jams are getting the jump this year with a number of them set to go. First up on December 14 is the Heavy Metal Rail Jam at Lake Louise.

This competition is open to skiers and boarders and there's $2000 up for grabs along with a bunch of other loot to give away. The competition is in jam format, which means that time permitting, you can take as many runs as you like. This is good for those of you who prefer high-risk tricks. If you crash, get back to the top and do it again.

Sunshine Village is hosting a World Snowboard Day Rail Jam on Pando Run on December 22. There's not a lot of information out on this one, so check the website for details (sunshine-village.net).

Canadians on the podium With Erik Guay still recovering from off-season knee surgery, Canada's hopes for downhill glory rested on

the shoulders of Manuel OsborneParadis. Canadian skiers typically wither under enormous pressure, but on this day Osborne-Paradis delivered, finishing second by a mere 14 milliseconds at the Lake Louise World Cup downhill season opener on November 29.

The ladies took to the same downhill course at Louise the following weekend, and Canada's Larisa Yurkiw nearly captured her first podium finish coming in fourth by only 14 milliseconds. Three Americans swept the podium that day, with returning veteran Lindsey Vonn finishing in first place.

The story was much different in the season-opening World Cup skicross event at Nakiska last weekend. Whistler native and Olympic champion, Marielle Thompson finished first, while her teammate Georgia Simmerling of Vancouver captured second place in a Canadian one-two sweep.

HART GOLBECK

HART@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

SNOW ZONE 21

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MUSIC

MUSIC EDITOR: MEAGHAN BAXTER MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // ELECTRO-POP

Darkness from the gut Phantogram finds a more soulful approach on Voices

D

ark, moody, emotive; the list of adjectives could go on and on when it comes to Phantogram, a duo whose commanding brand of nuanced synth- and drum-driven indie pop has been steadily gaining traction since the release of Eyelid Movies in 2009.

Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter, who met in high school before reconnecting and starting to work on music in 2007, continue to hone their cascading, intricately layered melodies on Voices, Phantogram's major-label debut with Republic Records/Indica.

"When we first started it, we had a lot of ideas and came up with different blueprints and mission statements, but that ended up being stifling for our creativity," Carter says.

"We ended up just starting to record

and writing how we naturally do and that's how we wrote Voices. It just sounds like a natural progression and maturation of us as a band, and that's just how we worked because I think we put a little bit too much pressure on ourselves to put a certain vibe on the record before we even tried writing songs for it."

Carter is hesitant to divulge what those "mission statements" were exactly, as some of the ideas have been put on hold for the next album—the duo have also been in the studio working on a collaboration with Big Boi of Outkast that Carter calls "darkadelic," as in dark, psychedelic hip hop.

There's no release date for that project as of yet, but for now Barthel and Carter are focusing on finish-

ing off a banner 2014 that included sets at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, sold-out shows and a chartclimbing single. That track, "Fall in Love," almost didn't make the record, though. Carter had crafted the single's brooding yet dreamy melody with a rapper in mind, but Barthel discovered it and convinced him to save it for Phantogram.

"I was like, 'Alright, if you can write a cool vocal thing for it then we'll do it,'" Carter recalls. "She kind of breathed new life into this beat that otherwise would not have been heard by anybody—or hopefully it would have been someone like Jay-Z rapping over it."

It's probably for the best that Phantogram kept that beat for them-

selves, anyway, since "Fall in Love" became the number-four "Most Shazamed Rock and Indie Song of 2014" and did well on the charts.

The duo no doubt make a great team, with Carter creating beats and chopping up song samples and he and Barthel sharing lyric ideas.

"It's different every time, but I write most of the lyrics and Sarah's really good at translating those as well; she's very with me as I'm writing lyrics, too, so she kept the vibe. It's not like we're singing somebody else's song. We're both going through the same experiences most of the time," Carter explains.

Phantogram kept its live performance in mind while writing Voices as well. When the pair wrote Eyelid Movies, they were relatively un-

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

Fri, Dec 12 (8 pm) With Mounties, Dear Rouge Starlite Room, sold out known and hadn't logged many gigs, so Carter says it just turned out to be an album he and Barthel would want to listen to.

"Then for Voices we were like, 'Oh, we have fans and know how to perform live and how to execute things as Phantogram,' so we had in mind having a live drummer and other multi-instrumentalists and that definitely went into my construction of the songs," Carter says, noting Voices has a higher-fidelity sound that came from working with better equipment, courtesy of co-producer John Hill (Santigold, MIA). "Also, Sarah's singing is a lot more soulful on Voices, whereas on Eyelid Movies it's wispier and I think she's really singing from the gut on Voices."

MEAGHAN BAXTER

MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

MUSIC 25

MUSIC PREVUE // ROCKABILLY

The Hi-Strung Downers

.com

Wed, Dec 17 (8 pm) Black Dog, No cover

One badass funeral

2014-2015 SeaSON

OUr STaGE. YOUr EXPeRIENCe.

jerry granelli

Relive festive childhood memories with timeless classics from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Tuesday, December 16 \ 7:30 pm \ $32 Adult \ $24 Child

TICKETS: 780-459-1542 \

26 MUSIC

\ ardentheatre.com

'G

reasy."

That's how Earl Garnet, lead guitar slinger for Calgary four-piece the Hi-Strung Downers, wants the band's songs to sound. The Downers, all upright-bass-slapping and stuttering drums, is a highball of rockabilly, rock 'n' roll and punk-rock attitude.

With its sharp suits, pompadours and clean shaves the group looks like it could be right out of the '50sâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but its songs have a definitive bite.

"I played lots of punk rock when I was a kid," Garnet says over the phone from Calgary, taking a break from his day job running his contraction company. "It was easy to go from that into '50s honky-tonk. We play with really high energy and we found it really important to not have any delay between songs, Ramones-style."

Garnet and his bandmates Joe Love, T-Bone and Greg Callsen are veterans of the Calgary rockabilly-roots scene, their chops honed throughout the '90s in the Black Coffee Cowboy, the Surefires and the Southern Twisters.

The Hi-Strung Downers released its debut album Here She Lies last summer, a reverb-soaked document of decades of failed relationships.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DEC 17, 2014

The songs are unapologetic, with the boys blaming their heartache on the ladies who done them wrong.

The results aren't PC, but Garnet says they are cathartic.

"I wrote so many self-loathing songs in other bands over the years, so for once it was nice to say: 'we broke up and it's your fault,'" he says. "They're all true stories that happened to members of the band. But everyone has moved on since. Personally, for me, it was really great writing these songs because it dealt with those old feelings."

The music the Downers play is a throwback to the rebel days when rock 'n' rollers stepped out of the box and embraced rhythm and blues. It's the music of Johnny Burnette, Johnny Carroll, Hank Williams Sr, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens. It's not mainstream, Garnet says, but it's a blast to play and audiences love it.

"The last band that got any kind of mainstream success was the Stray Cats," he adds. "But it's interesting that everyone seems to like it. It doesn't matter who you are, it's just a lot of fun."

JOSH MARCELLIN

JOSH@VUEWEEKLY.COM

PREVUE // METAL

Superstoked supergroup // Tim Tronckoe

Sat, Dec 13 (8 pm) With Orange Goblin, Bl'ast!, King Parrot Union Hall, $32.50

Down P

epper Keenan walks with giants.

As the riff-monster guitarist for metal supergroup Down, Keenan shares the stage with Phil Anselmo—the aggressive vocalist behind Pantera, one of the biggest and most influential metal bands ever. And few people can say they were thiiiiiiis close to joining Metallica: indeed, Keenan auditioned to play bass with James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich but was narrowly edged out by Robert Trujillo.

But you won't hear Keenan complain.

"Although, when I saw [Metallica in their documentary Some Kind of Monster] hand Trujillo a million-dollar cheque … " he trails off laughing.

He was sitting on the back steps of the Fillmore in San Francisco, having just finished a sound check in the seminal venue where the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead all played in the '60s. He reflected on his long music career, which has included 17 years as guitarist and vocalist for Corrosion of Conformity, the pioneering band known for smashing together hardcore punk and metal. (And, after leaving the group in 2006, Keenan confirmed

that he'll be returning to COC in March 2015.)

Down formed in New Orleans in 1991 and now includes the band's former stage manager Bobby Landgraf on guitar, as well as bass player Pat Bruders from Goatwhore and drummer Jimmy Bower from Eyehategod. Ever since Down's inception its swampy groove-riffs and unpretentious connection to its fans quickly gained the group a huge cult following—one that still grows some 24 years later.

"Everyone is in a good place right now," Keenan says. "I'm 47 but I feel like I'm 27. And it's just fun, dude.

We're at the Fillmore in San Francisco tonight. If you know your rock 'n' roll you can obviously see the value in what we're doing."

Down is bucking music-industry convention by releasing four EPs close together, instead of full albums.

Keenan says the EPs, recorded at Anselmo's farm outside New Orleans, are a way for Down to experiment with its sound.

"It allowed us to have a little lateral movement between records; if we

want to shift gears between EPs, we can," he says. "The next EP [Down IV – Part III] is going to be a mellower, Pink Floyd thing. More like campfire, acoustic stuff. Also, we can work on six or seven songs and make every one of them a stunner."

Coming from New Orleans, that richness of musical experience is a part of the cultural fabric. Keenan owns Le Bon Temps Roule, a no-frills New Orleans neighbourhood bar that showcases the music of the city and its Cajun players.

"It's old-school music: New Orleans funk, brass bands, horn bands, R&B," Keenan adds. "I'm just trying to keep it real. And places like this, you can probably count them on one hand in New Orleans these days."

It's that love of music—be it the aggressive metal of Down and Corrosion of Conformity or the New Orleans soul of his city—that drives Keenan.

"I'm super psyched to still be out touring and playing," he says. "You've got to have fun out there and you just can't take yourself too seriously."

JOSH MARCELLIN

JOSH@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

Karaoke • THURSDAY - FRIDAY 9pm - 1am -------------------------Dec 6 - Tall Dark N Dirty

-------------------------Dec 13 - Sophie & the Shuffle Hounds

-------------------------Dec 20 - Doug Bishop

& the Hurtin Horsemen -------------------------Dec 31 - mooney bay

-------------------------SUNDAY JAM • 7pm - 11pm --------------------------

INTERESTED IN BOOKING YOUR BAND ON SATURDAYS IN OUR LOUNGE, CONTACT CHRISTEE@SANDSHOTELEDM.COM

MUSIC 27

MUSIC PREVUE // SPOOKY POP

Dralms

FRI, MAR 27, MERCURY ROOM MERCURY ROOM & MRG CONCERTS PRESENTS

SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT

THE WHITE BUFFALO W/ SPENCER BURTON

WED, DEC 31, MERCURY ROOM REGGAE, R&B, BLUES, ROCK SHOW, W/ DINNER OPTION AS WELL! TICKETS ON SALE FRI, NOV 28 AT 10 AM AT YEG LIVE!

NYE WITH LEX JUSTICE AND FRIENDS!

SAT, JAN 31, MERCURY ROOM

ANDY SHAUF W/ MARINE DREAMS

TUES, FEB 17, MERCURY ROOM

MATTHEW BYRNE W/ GUESTS

WED, FEB 18, STARLITE ROOM

ELLIOTT BROOD W/ THE WILDERNESS OF MANITOBA

FRI, FEB 20, MERCURY ROOM

THE ELWINS W/ TWO BEARS NORTH, AND GUESTS

TUES, FEB 24, THE WINSPEAR JCL AND LIVE AT THE WINSPEAR PRESENT

JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW SINGLE MOTHERS

FRI, FEB 27, MERCURY ROOM

W/ GUESTS

SAT, FEB 28, MERCURY ROOM

JESSE ROPER DAN MANGAN + BLACKSMITH

W/ GUESTS

WED, MAR 11, WINSPEAR

W/ HAYDEN, & ASTRAL SWANS

THU, APR 2, ROYAL AB MUSEUM THEATRE

AN EVENING WITH

SHANE KOYCZAN 28 MUSIC

Half-lit, fully broody // Todd Duym

S

ometimes you need to make it and Will Kendrick—his drummer and keyboard player, respecup as you go.

Like Vancouver-based singer- tively—Smith said the sound got songwriter Christopher Smith's heavier and broodier, following the new band: Dralms. What does the subject matter, until the trio found itself in new sonic territory. name mean?

"Eventually there "It's totally esthetic—I wanted was a disconnect between how the something that Thu, Dec 18 (8 pm) sounded and With the Belle Game album and the live looked like the Wunderbar show sounded," music does," Smith says. "That's when I decided to Smith says. "It make the move, give it a moniker and has a feel quality, a vibe."

Smith has been performing under work with this new sound." his own name for nearly a decade.

His solo work is delicate fare with He's now got a whole album worth brushed drums and clean acoustic of material which he expects to and electric guitar. But the lyrics release in early to mid 2015. The often skewed sombre, with Smith single "Crushed Pleats" and B-side exploring the dark side of power "Divisions of Labour" are dense and dynamics over the precious-sound- broody slabs of spooky synths, ing arrangements. Like the 2012 bass pulses and Smith's singing offsingle "Pillars and Pyre" from the balance lines like: "If my heart had album Earning Keep, with Smith its will / kill, kill, kill."

For Dralms, Smith has retained gently singing: "Oh, this is hell for the weak ones / for the strong, this Watts and Kendrick and added Peis heaven on Earth" over a dreamy ter Carruthers on bass and electronic artist Andy Dixon in charge indie slow-burn.

After years of playing and replay- of production. The difference ing those songs with Shaun Watts between Smith the solo act and

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

Dralms the band, besides being estranged sonically, is the amount of collaboration.

"I still write the songs at home sitting on the edge of my bed or on my couch," Smith says. "That remains intact, the integrity of the song shines through. But now when I go to the band we're way more interested in turning the song on its ass musically, expanding it and messing with [it], versus before I would say 'this is how I want it.'

It's the sound of me giving up the reins more."

For its first mini-tour of Western Canada, Dralms will be playing all original material before its album is even released. That freshness is a great opportunity, Smith says.

"For me, personally, when I see a show versus listen to an album I feel like they're two totally different experiences—you feel these songs in different ways," he adds.

"I hope they find it intriguing and exciting and that they get excited to have this music for themselves."

JOSH MARCELLIN

JOSH@VUEWEEKLY.COM

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

MUSIC 29

APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Millwrights, Welders, Sawfilers, & Heavy Duty Mechanics

Level, AB 10442 whyte ave 439.1273 10442High whyte ave 439.1273 Tolko Industries Ltd. Is a forest products company with marketing, resource management and manufacturing operations throughout Western Canada. We are now accepting SO006826 applications to fill current apprenticeship opportunities at our HighL Level P/Lumber Division NATIVE NORTH which is sawmill, planer complex located in High Level, Alberta. Preference be given X will Working BorOabove. to those who are registered apprentices at a level of third year AMERICA contract required. Please include high school transcripts with your application.

NATIVE NORTH AMERICA BENEFITS OF WORKING IN HIGH LEVEL: 1): Travel ABORIGINAL • Northern(VOL. Living and Allowances • No PST in Alberta • Alberta basic healthcare is offered FOLK, ROCK, ANDto all residents at no charge • Excellent pension plan • Full benefits plan COUNTRY 1966–1985 APPLY TODAY! www.tolko.com

lié Consent (That's Cool Records) 

blackbyrd

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Y

O

O

Z

I

K

w w w. b l a c k b y rd . c a

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Millwrights, Welders, Sawfilers, & Heavy Duty Mechanics High Level, AB

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Tolko Industries Ltd. Is a forest products company with marketing, resource management and S01367 manufacturing operations throughout Western Canada. We are now accepting applications to fill current apprenticeship opportunities at our High Level Lumber Division which is sawmill, planer complex located in High Level, Alberta. Preference will be given to those who are registered apprentices at a level of third year or above. Working contract required. Please include high school transcripts with your application.

SO006826

BENEFITS OF WORKING IN HIGH LEVEL: • Northern Living and Travel Allowances • No PST in Alberta • Alberta basic healthcare is offered to all residents at no charge • Excellent pension plan • Full benefits plan

Vancouver's lié have casually unleashed a statement album in Consent, its debut full-length. It's a maelstrom of explosive, elbows-out punk rock and the perfect follow-up to its previous two cassette EPs released in 2013.

Guitarist Ashlee Luk and bassist Britt West share turns blowing out their vocal chords on the album, with dark, whirling tracks like "Casual Embrace" and "Sorry" featuring the two shredding their instruments over Kati J's furious drumming.

From the album's title, to Luk's sinis-

Machinedrum Vapor City Archives (Ninja Tune)

APPLY TODAY! www.tolko.com



Travis Stewart has built himself a very interesting concept with his Vapor City releases. Through a simple dexterity, the different districts of an imaginary city have been given a soundtrack. With Vapor City Archives, the final instalment of the series, Machinedrum gives us one last glimpse into the seeming dystopia that his imagination built. Relying on drum and bass style syncopation that is of-

Submotion Orchestra Alium (Counter) 

COMEDY AT THE CENTURY CASINO

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

DAMONDE

TSCHRITTER DAVID Michelle WILCOX

Wright BASH

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JAY THE

AND

AMERICANS

WED DEC 31

DEC 12 - 13

The name suggests they create a sound that is below motion, something that may in fact keep you from moving. Few of these 12 tracks will inspire you to dance, but to say you will not be moved is a fallacy. The heavily pounded drums and synthesized soundscapes that are most prevalent trick you into thinking you are immersed in an a world of lofty elec-

JORDYN MARCELLUS

JORDYN@VUEWEEKLY.COM

ten muffled and disjointed, these songs seem to vibrate up from the underground and into a smog. The diffusion permeates the air throughout, but evolves gently, giving the sense that through the gloom there is hope—like when the drums drop out on "B Patient," or the gentle acid rain notes that open "Tried & True."

If you've been following the project, then you will certainly want the conclusion. This collection is worth a listen if conceptual music peaks your interest.

LEE BOYES

LEE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

tronica, but in actuality this is a gorgeous and powerful jazz record.

The orchestra does a phenomenal job of choosing its battles, balanced between instrumentals and gentle vocal-led tracks—backing out in grand support of the words, or charging together with banded attack when given the lead. Dramatic and engaging, dynamic and involved, Alium will strike a chord with you and leave you overwhelmingly impressed.

LEE BOYES

LEE@VUEWEEKLY.COM

Four IN 140

SAT JAN 17

Run the Jewels, 2 (Mass Appeal) @VueWeekly: El-P & Killer Mike's 2nd release is as sonically explosive as it is lyrically commanding. This menacing release is a must..

COMING SOON: KENNY SHIELDS & STREETHEART, HONEYMOON SUITE AND MORE! TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CENTURY CASINO AND TICKETMASTER

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Royskopp, The Inevitable End (Arts & Crafts) @VueWeekly: The Norwegian producers "goodbye to the traditional album format" is a murky, synthy and often indiscernible release. A very pleasing release.

Hookworms, Hum (Domino) @VueWeekly: An all-in exertion. Intense moments, psychedelic weird outs and full of captivation. Just a completely full album.

+íæ Pōĥį±ĉàįÂįāřĉà

Ļďêêį ğ PÕ PĤIJ

ʼn ğŎįG æ Ĥ PŎįêPàįÂįāāPà

Big K.R.I.T, Cadillactica (Def Jam) @VueWeekly: Second full-length is as close to his classic as he will likely ever get. A very focused effort from the Mississippi king. Great rap album.

Ĭďêêį7ğÃß į9Ãd ʼn ğŎį>ĽğĤ PŎį±ĉàįÂįêĉà

13103 FORT RD • 643-4000 30 MUSIC

ter cover art, to songs like "Allez"— with memorable lyrics "She's down on her knees/her mouth is filled with your pride/your satisfaction all she needs/she's fucking/she's sucking/ she's sucking her way to the top!"— Consent is clearly about sex, power, greed and misogyny.

In an age where women's voices are finally coming forward to tell their stories about violence against women, lié's Consent is a ferocious musical reminder of the horror a woman can experience every day. These nine tracks explore these stories, and that thematic content is what makes Consent one of the year's best albums.

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

THU DEC 11 ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE Live

Music every Thu; 9pm BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Thirsty

Thursday singer-songwriter open jam with guest host Back Porch Swing; 8-12pm BLACKDOG FREEHOUSE Two Blue

Memphis Bound Blues fundraiser/ Karimah Birthday Bash; 8:30pm; Pay what you can BLUES ON WHYTE Krystle Dos

Santos BRITTANY'S LOUNGE Scrambled

YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage:

artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations â&#x20AC;˘ Every Tue- Fri, 5-8pm BRIXX BAR The Fast Folk

Underground Show With Eugene Ripper, John Guliak, The Fashion Police; 8pm; $10

L.B.'S Shane Chisholm; 9:30pm

SMOKEHOUSE BBQ Live Blues

MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Thu and Fri DJ and dance

floor; 9:30pm

CASINO EDMONTON Nervous Flirts;

STARLITE ROOM Night Vision

NEW WEST HOTEL 4's A Crowd

9pm

O'MAILLES Jessy Mossop and Stephen Lecky

Calls

presents Fake Blood & Sinden; 9pm; $20 (adv) TAVERN ON WHYTE Open stage with Michael Gress (fr Self Evolution); every Thu; 9pm-2am

Classical LA CITE FRANCAPHONE Christmas

Hope Fundraiser Featuring Opus@12 Chamber Concert Society; 12pm; Admission by donation

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: Retro

'80s with house DJ every Thu; 7pm-close THE COMMON The Common

Uncommon Thursday: Rotating Guests each week!

ON THE ROCKS Bonafide PALACE CASINOâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;WEM Chronic Rock PAWN SHOP Dusty Tucker with

Wolfrik and These Colors Don't Run and with Stranger Danger and South Of Salem; 8pm; $15 (adv) RED PIANO BAR Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players every Fri; 9pm-2am RENDEZVOUS Hodgie and the Barbarians- Ruined Escape Plan SHERLOCK HOLMESâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;DOWNTOWN

Mike Letto; 7pm SHERLOCK HOLMESâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;WEM Mike

"The Party Hog"; 7pm STARLITE ROOM Night Vision presents Fake Blood & Sinden; 9pm; $20 (adv); facebook.com/ events/338253909685325 TIRAMISU BISTRO Live music

every Fri YARDBIRD SUITE Rubim De Toledo/

Jim Brenan CD Release Double Bill; 7pm (doors), 8pm (show); $22 (guests), $18 (members)

THE BUCKINGHAM Elliot Thomas, Alex Vissia, and The Marwills; 8pm; $5

every Thu

CAFĂ&#x2030; HAVEN Music every Thu: this

Thursdays

week with Karli Francesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Student Recital; 7pm

KRUSH ULTRA LOUNGE Open stage;

7pm; no cover

DJs

CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK Grave

LEVEL 2 LOUNGE Funk Bunker

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Every

New World CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Thu Open

Mic: All adult performers are welcome (music, song, spoken word); every Thu, 1:30-3pm CHA ISLAND TEA CO Bring Your

Own Vinyl Night: Every Thu; 8pm-late; Edmonton Couchsurfing Meetup: Every Thu; 8pm CITADEL ON STAGE 4 Wannabe: Tis The Season To Be Spicy! Wannabe Spice Girls Hits and Christmas Covers; 8pm; $35 THE COMMON Acid Wash; 10:30pm DRAFT PUB & GRILL Rewind Live DV8 HIP HOP Charity Clarity

Winter Jacket Drive; 8pm EARLY STAGE SALOONâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Stony Plain

Open Jam Nights; no cover EXPRESSIONZ CAFE Open Stage;

1st Thu each month, 7:30pm10:30pm FIONN MACCOOL'Sâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CITY CENTRE

Craft Addict Thursdays Presents: Fat Dave Johnston; 7pm; No cover; All Ages FIONN MACCOOL'Sâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;SOUTH The Fab

Tiff Hall Duo; 8:30pm FORT EDMONTON PARKâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

ELECTRIC RODEOâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Spruce Grove DJ FILTHY MCNASTYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Taking Back

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

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

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

FORT EDMONTON PARKâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3 GAS PUMP Saturday Homemade Jam: Mike Chenoweth HILLTOP PUB Open Stage, Jam every Sat; 3:30-7pm HORIZON STAGE Big Hank & LEAF BAR AND GRILL Open Stage

Satâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;It's the Sat Jam hosted by Darren Bartlett, 5pm LEGENDS Sat 3pm Jam and Open

Mic with Nick Samoil and guests MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Live Local Bands every

Sat

ELECTRIC RODEOâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Spruce Grove DJ

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

ARTERY Jared Robinson (art) and

La Luna de Santiago; 8pm; $10 (adv), $15 (door) ATLANTIC TRAP & GRILL Jason

Greeley BAILEY THEATREâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CAMROSE A Fist

FLUID LOUNGE R&B, hip hop and dancehall with DJ Aiden Jamali; every Fri MERCER TAVERN Homegrown

Friday: with DJ Thomas Culture THE PROVINCIAL PUB Friday Nights:

NEW WEST HOTEL 4's A Crowd Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;BYRNEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Live band every Sat,

3-7pm; DJ every Sat, 9:30pm

RENDEZVOUS PUB Silence The

Machine- Dieuponaday- The Equinox- Global GenocideSurrender To Reason RICHARD'S PUB The Terry Evans

Sat Jam (rock): every Sat; 4-8pm

Full of Blues - Tribute to the Blues of Christmas; 8pm

Indie rock and dance with DJs Brad Wilkinson, the HĂźgonaut, and thomas Culture

Mike Letto; 7pm

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Jimmy &

RED STAR Movinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on Up: indie, rock,

SHERLOCK HOLMESâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;WEM Mike

the Sleepers; 9pm

SHERLOCK HOLMESâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;DOWNTOWN

"The Party Hog"; 7pm

BLUE CHAIR CAFĂ&#x2030; The Jazz

funk, soul, hip hop with DJ Gatto, DJ Mega Wattson; every Fri

Quintessential; 8:30-10:30pm

SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE Amplified

BLUES ON WHYTE Krystle Dos

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

Goblin, Blâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ast & King Parrot. No minors, 18+; 8pm

UNION HALL Ladies Night every Fri

YARDBIRD SUITE Rubim De Toledo/

Y AFTERHOURS Foundation Fridays

Jim Brenan Cd Release Double Bill; 7pm (doors), 8pm (show); $22 (guests), $18 (members)

Santos BOURBON ROOM Dueling pianos

SAT DEC 13

STARLITE ROOM Turn Up For Toys Ft. Stickybuds, Mat The Alien, Featurecast. 18+; 9pm; $25 UNION HALL Down with Orange

APEX CASINO Pepperland; 9pm

Classical MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH

CAFFREY'S IN THE PARK Grave

ARTERY The Annual Whiskey Mixer Featuring 100 mile house; 8pm; $12 (adv)

New World

"B" STREET BAR Rockin Big Blues

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Live music

and Roots Open Jam: Every Sat afternoon hosted by the Jimmy Guiboche Band; 2-6pm Afternoon: Big Al's House of Blues

Calls

Wam Bam Thank you Jam: free chilli hosted by Rotten Dan and Sean Stephens; every Sat, 2-6pm; EVENING: Dangerous Guise; 9pm

CITADEL ON STAGE 4 Wannabe: Tis The Season To Be Spicy! Wannabe Spice Girls Hits and Christmas Covers; 8pm; $35

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Hair of the Dog: Wafer Thin Mints (live acoustic music every Sat); 4-6pm; no cover

DOW CENTENNIAL CENTREâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; SHELL THEATREâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;FORT SASK Tim

BLUES ON WHYTE Every Sat

9pm CASINO YELLOWHEAD The Last

afternoon: Jam with Back Door Dan; Krystle Dos Santos

pianos at 8pm

Tamashiro Christmas; 7:30pm; $32 (adult), $29 (youth)

RICHARD'S PUB Blue Thursdays

DRAFT PUB & GRILL Rewind Live

(roots); hosted by Gord Matthews; 6:30-9pm

BRIXX BAR Rock 4 Santa W/ Funk Sway, Stellafox; 8:30pm; $10

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Doug Stroud;

7pm

BOHEMIA DARQ Saturdays:

RICâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GRILL Peter Belec (jazz);

DV8 Powerslave With Guests Mr

SHERLOCK HOLMESâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;U OF A

ReWine Saturdays Presents: Rural Routes; 8pm; No Cover; All Ages

every Fri

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES

most Thursdays; 7-10pm

FIONN MACCOOL'Sâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CITY CENTRE

Rebuild/Repair Album Release Show with Rhubarbs, Canadian Tuxedo & The Deadly; 8pm

CASINO EDMONTON Nervous Flirts;

RED PIANO Every Thu: Dueling

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Free Afternoon Concerts: this week with Kevin Maimann And The Pretty Things; 4pm

ON THE ROCKS Bonafide

MKT FRESH FOOD AND BEER MARKET Thu and Fri DJ and dance

Wild Rose Old Time Fiddlers every Thu; contact John Malka 780.447.5111

ROCK4SANTA. 4 bands; $10 (all money raised goes to.the Edmonton Christmas Bureau)

9pm

every Fri: this week Jingle Jammin' Christmas Caroling; all ages; 7pm; $5 (door)

NORTH GLENORA HALL Jam by

DV8 Edmonton's 7th annual

ARMOURY RESOURCE CENTRE

with Attack by Raptors and Joey D; 8pm

8pm; all ages (15+)

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Doug Stroud;

7pm

DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every Fri;

L.B.'S PUB South Bound Freight

NEW WEST HOTEL 4's A Crowd

Introverts; 9:30pm; Free DRAFT PUB & GRILL Rewind Live

APEX CASINO Pepperland; 9pm

the Nervous Flirts (sing-along with a live band); every Thu, 9pm1am; no cover

NAKED CYBERCAFĂ&#x2030; Thu open stage;

CROWN & ANCHOR PUB The

FRI DEC 12

YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage: artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations â&#x20AC;˘ Every Tue- Fri, 5-8pm

floor; 9:30pm

CITADEL ON STAGE 4 Wannabe: Tis The Season To Be Spicy! Wannabe Spice Girls Hits and Christmas Covers; 8pm; $35

disco, hip hop, indie, electro, dance with weekly local and visiting DJs on rotation plus residents Echo and Justin Foosh

J R BAR AND GRILL Live Jam

MERCURY ROOM Pinstripe Knights

CASINO YELLOWHEAD The Last

Friends; 7:30pm

THE BOWER Strictly Goods: Old

BRITTANY'S LOUNGE Scrambled

open jam with hosts: Rob Kaup, Leah Durelle

to Europe, Mikey Maybe, Old Towns; 8pm

Friday DJs on all three levels

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

KELLY'S PUB Jameoke Night with

WUNDERBAR Doug Hoyer's Sendoff

Thursdays

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3 Thu; 9pm

CARROT COFFEEHOUSE Sat Open

mic; 7pm; $2

every Thur: rotating guests; 7-11pm

Conrad; 9pm

Andrew Scott; 7pm

FORT EDMONTON PARKâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

SIDELINER'S Amie Weymes & The

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3

Industrial - Goth - Dark Electro with DJs the Gothfather and Zeio; 9pm; $5 (door); (every Sat except the 1st Sat of the month) BOURBON ROOM Live Music every

Sat Night with Jared Sowan and Brittany Graling; 8pm

Rejoice (all six ensembles in the Kokopelli Choir Association); 2pm & 7pm; $20, $15 (students) at yeglive.ca and Tix on the Square

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

The Menace 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 BOWER For Those Who 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

PERformance venue â&#x20AC;˘ Bar & GRill â&#x20AC;˘ call us at 780.482.0202

WEEKLY

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

Atta Boys

BIG ALâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S house of blues

MUSIC

9pm

$ K Ă? : - E

SATURDAY, december 13th - 9:00PM

$10 COVER

Dangerous Guise TUESDAY EVENING BIG DREAMER JAM W/ ANGELA STEEVES

JUKE JOINT WEDNESDAY JAM

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18TH - 8:00PM Give the Gift of Hope Christmas Support Event

Donna Durand, Rob Heath Rebecca Lappa, Bill Bourne, Paul Woida & John Spearn

By Donation

HELP US REACH OUR GOAL OF $1,000!

SATURDAY & SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAMS

COMING

SOON

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19TH â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 20TH

COME CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR WITH US!

SHOW TICKET(W/SPRING ROLL APPETIZER) / $50.00 PER PERSON

ENCOREâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;WEM Every Sat: Sound

BOOK FOR A TABLE OF 4 AND GET A DISCOUNT OF $280.00!

and Light show; We are Saturdays: Kindergarten dancehall with DJ Aiden Jamali; every Sat

$10 COVER

BIG ALâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEW YEARS EVE BASH WITH BOOGIE PATROL 4 COURSE DINNER AND SHOW / $80.00 PER PERSON

DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every Sat;

FLUID LOUNGE R&B, hip hop and

Friday, december 12th - 9:00PM

PLUS MIDNIGHT CHAMPAGNE, PARTY FAVOURS, PRIZES! LIMITED SEATING FOR DINNER â&#x20AC;˘ TICKETS AVAILABLE AT BIG AL'S

Lots of parking north of venue | 12402 118 Ave

FIND OUT MORE, visit us ON FB

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DEC 17, 2014

MUSIC 31

LEVEL 2 LOUNGE Collective

RICHARD'S PUB Sunday Country

Saturdays underground: House and Techno

Showcase and jam (country) hosted by Darren Gusnowsky

MERCER TAVERN DJ Mikey Wong

TRINITY BAPIST CHURCH Joy To The World: A Concert With A Purpose Featuring Scott Cook With Braden Gates And Cayley Thomas; 7pm

every Sat PAWN SHOP Transmission

Saturdays: Indie rock, new wave, classic punk with DJ Blue Jay and Eddie Lunchpail; 9pm (door); free (before 10pm)/$5 (after 10pm); 1st Sat each month

FAKE BLOOD W/ SINDEN DEC/12 PHANTOGRAM DEC/11

THE PROVINCIAL PUB Saturday Nights: Indie rock and dance with DJs Maurice and Joses Martin RED STAR Indie rock, hip hop, and

electro every Sat with DJ Hot Philly and guests

SONIC 102.9 JINGLE BELL ROCK

DEC/13

W/ MOUNTIES & DEAR ROUGE

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

UBK IN ASSOCIATION WITH SANTA’S ANONYMOUS PRESENT:

SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE

TURN UP FOR TOYS

DEC/20

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

DEC/30

J PHLIP NIGHT VISION PRESENTS

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

A NEW YEARS EVE

PRE-PARTY W/ CYRIL HAHN DEC/31

UNION HALL Celebrity Saturdays:

every Sat hosted by DJ Johnny Infamous

STARLITE ROOM & CONCERTWORKS.CA IS PROUD TO PRESENT

COUNT DOWN TO MIDNIGHT NYE 2014

W/ STRIKER

Y AFTERHOURS Release Saturdays

SUN DEC 14 BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Sun Electric Blues Jam and BBQ hosted

by Marshall Lawrence and the Lazy Bastards; 4-8pm

FT/ THE ORDER OF CHAOS, DEATH TOLL RISING, RIOT CITY

BLACKJACK'S ROADHOUSE–Nisku

JAN/19 DARK TRANQUILITY/ INSOMNIUM JAN/20 BLACKALICIOUS

Open mic every Sun hosted by Tim Lovett

BLUES ON WHYTE Krystle Dos DIVERSION LOUNGE Sun Night Live on the South Side: live bands; all ages; 7-10:30pm

DEC/13 DEC/18 DEC/19

DJs Soul Sundays: A fantastic voyage through '60s and '70s funk, soul and R&B with DJ Zyppy LEVEL 2 LOUNGE Stylus Industry

BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Big

ALBERTA BEACH HOTEL Open stage Wed with Trace Jordan; 8pm-12 ARTERY Kacy & Clayton; 7:30pm; $8 (adv), $12 (door) BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES Juke

Joint Jam hosted by Bob Cook & the Shake Outs; 8pm

Dreamer Sound jam hosted by Harry Gregg and Geoff HamdenO'brien; this weeks guest: Big Dreamer Sound Jam with guest Angela Steeves every Tue 8pm-12am

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

BLUES ON WHYTE Boogie Patrol

BRITTANY'S LOUNGE Scrambled

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

YEG: Open Genre Variety Stage:

artist from all mediums are encouraged to occupy the stage and share their creations • Every Tue- Fri, 5-8pm

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 Boogie Patrol

FORT EDMONTON PARK–CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

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)

Robison; 7pm FORT EDMONTON PARK–CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3 NEW WEST HOTEL Trick Ryder; 7pm

BLUES ON WHYTE Boogie Patrol

stage with Darrell Barr; 7-11pm

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Monday

LEAF BAR AND GRILL Tue Open

ORIGINAL JOE'S VARSITY ROW Open mic Wed: Hosted by Jordan Strand; every Wed, 9-12 jordanfstrand@gmail.com / 780655-8520

open mic

Jam: Trevor Mullen

OVERTIME–Sherwood Park Jason

FORT EDMONTON PARK–CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

MERCER TAVERN Alt Tuesday with

Kris Harvey and guests

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

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3

NEW WEST HOTEL Trick Ryder; 7pm

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL

MERCURY ROOM Music Magic

Tue; with Shannon Johnson and friends; 9:30pm

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL

Night with Darrek Anderson from the Guaranteed; every Mon; 9pm SIDELINER'S PUB Monday night

L.B.'S PUB Tue Variety Night Open

O’BYRNE’S Celtic jam every

OVERTIME–Sherwood Park Open

mic every Tue RED PIANO Every Tue: the Nervous

Flirts Jameoke Experience (sing-along with a live band); 7:30pm-12am; no cover; relaxed dress code RICHARD'S PUB Tue Live Music

Showcase and Open Jam (blues) hosted by Mark Ammar; 7:30pm SANDS HOTEL Country music

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

open stage hosted by Celeigh Cardinal with a featured guest; 8pm (until Dec 29)

DJs

SHERLOCK HOLMES–U OF A Adam

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

Holm; 7pm

O’BYRNE’S Open mic every Sun;

DV8 T.F.W.O. Mondays: Roots

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.

ARTERY Vue 1000 Featuring The Wet Secrets with The Lad Mags & Betrayers & Sermon on the Mountain; 7:30pm; $10 (adv), $15 (door)

WED DEC 17

9pm

FOUNDATION EDMONTON BOMBCHAN W/ CONCEALER AND THE DEADLY

SWEAT: THE NU-DISCO DANCE PARTY

ARDEN THEATRE Jerry Granelli "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (jazz); 7:30pm; $32 (adult), $24 (child)

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Duff

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

UPPER LEVEL OF STARLITE

TUE DEC 16

MON DEC 15

Soul Service: acoustic open stage every Sun 9:30pm-1am

R&B, Rock&Roll and Electro/Disco sounds of the last 70 years with DJ Thomas Culture

DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY Wed open mic with host Duff Robison

MERCURY ROOM Pop Ups : Holiday

NEWCASTLE PUB The Sunday

RED STAR Swing, Funk, Soul,

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

DRUID IRISH PUB Open Stage Tue

ROCK 4 SANTA W/ FUNK SWAY, STELLAFOX

Feast Featuring Long Lost Foods; 4pm, 7pm

Cadaver; every Tue

TAVERN ON WHYTE Classic Hip

Sundays: Invinceable, Tnt, Rocky, Rocko, Akademic, weekly guest DJs; 9pm-3am

ROUGE RESTO-LOUNGE Open Mic

HOG'S DEN PUB Rockin' the Hog Jam: Hosted by Tony Ruffo; every Sun, 3:30-7pm

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

industrial,Classic Punk, Rock,

Brit Pop, Synthpop, Alternative 90’s, Glam Rock with DJ Chris Bruce; Wooftop: Substance: alt retro and not-so-retro electronic and dance with Eddie LunchPail BRIXX Metal night every Tue DV8 Creepy Tombsday: Psychobilly,

Hallowe'en horrorpunk, deathrock with Abigail Asphixia and Mr

Acoustic Bluegrass jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society; every Wed, 6:30-11pm; $2 (member)/$4 (nonmember) RED PIANO BAR Wed Night Live: hosted by dueling piano players; 8pm-1am; $5 ROSSDALE HALL Little Flower Open Stage with Brian Gregg; 7:30pm (door); no cover ZEN LOUNGE Jazz Wednesdays: Kori Wray and Jeff Hendrick; every Wed; 7:30-10pm; no cover

DJs BILLIARD CLUB Why wait

Wednesdays: Wed night party with DJ Alize every Wed; no cover BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

Alt '80s and '90s, Post Punk, New Wave, Garage, Brit, Mod, Rock and Roll witih LL Cool Joe and DJ Downtrodden on alternate Weds BRIXX BAR Eats and Beats THE COMMON The Wed Experience:

Classics on Vinyl with Dane RED STAR Guest DJs every Wed

VENUEGUIDE

EVERY WEDNESDAY @ 6PM JOIN US IN A WEEKLY EXPLORATION OF SOUND!

32 MUSIC

Christmas at the Winspear; 2:30pm

EDMONTON PETROLEUM CLUB EJFS

Christmas Pantomime Until Jan 3

Lettuce Produce Beats

DEC/19

WINSPEAR Pro Coro Canada,

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

FORT EDMONTON PARK–CAPITOL THEATRE Cinderella: A Traditional

EDMONTON’S 7TH ANNUAL

Jubiloso! Bells Of Concordia; 3pm; $15 (adults), $12 (students/ seniors)

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

Jazz Live; 11am-1pm; $50

FAST FOLK UNDERGROUND SHOW DEC/11 FT/ EUGENE RIPPER, JOHN GULIAK & THE FASHION POLICE

ROBERT TEGLER STUDENT CENTRE

NEW WEST HOTEL Trick Ryder; 7pm

Santos

W/ SPECIAL GUESTS

christmas choir concert; 7pm; Free

Monday Nights: Capital City Jammers, host Blueberry Norm; seasoned musicians; 7-10pm; $4

BLUE CHAIR CAFE Brunch: PM Bossa; 9am-3pm; Donations

TIMBRE CONCERTS AND HIPHOPCANADA PRESENT

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Annual

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor:

Your Famous Saturday with Crewshtopher, Tyler M

FT/ STICKYBUDS, MAT THE ALIEN, FEATURECAST

Classical

Electronic with Hair of the Dave

ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE 8223-104 St, 780.431.0179 ALE YARD TAP 13310-137 Ave ARTERY 9535 Jasper Ave "B" STREET BAR 11818-111 St BIG AL'S HOUSE OF BLUES 12402-118 Ave BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 1042582 Ave, 780.439.1082 BLACKJACK'S ROADHOUSE– Nisku 2110 Sparrow Dr, Nisku, 780.986.8522 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 http://thebuckingham.ca BUDDY’S 11725B Jasper Ave, 780.488.6636 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 DIVERSION LOUNGE 3414 Gateway Blvd, 780.435.1922 DUGGAN'S BOUNDARY 9013-88 Ave, 780.465.4834 DRUID 11606 Jasper Ave, 780.454.9928 DUSTER’S PUB 6402-118 Ave, 780.474.5554 DV8 8130 Gateway Blvd EARLY STAGE SALOON– Stony Plain 4911-52 Ave, Stony Plain, 780.963.5998 ELECTRIC RODEO–Spruce Grove 121-1 Ave, Spruce Grove, 780.962.1411 ENCORE–WEM 2687, 8882-170 St EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ 9938-70 Ave, 780.437.3667 FESTIVAL PLACE 100

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

Festival Way, Sherwood Park, 780.449.3378 FILTHY MCNASTY’S 10511-82 Ave, 780.916.1557 FLUID LOUNGE 10888 Jasper Ave, 780.429.0700 HILLTOP PUB 8220 106 Ave HOGS DEN PUB Yellow Head Tr, 142 St 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 LEVEL 2 LOUNGE 11607 Jasper Ave, 2nd Fl, 780.447.4495 LIT ITALIAN WINE BAR 10132104 St 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 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 PAWN SHOP 10551-82 Ave, Upstairs, 780.432.0814 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 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 SOU KAWAII ZEN LOUNGE 1292397 St, 780.758.5924 STARLITE ROOM 10030-102 St, 780.428.1099 STUDIO MUSIC FOUNDATION 10940-166 A St SUGAR FOOT BALLROOM 10545-81 Ave TAVERN ON WHYTE 10507-82 Ave, 780.521.4404 TIRAMISU 10750-124 St VEE LOUNGE, APEX CASINO–St Albert 24 Boudreau Rd, St Albert, 780.460.8092, 780.590.1128 WINSPEAR CENTRE 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square; 780.28.1414 WUNDERBAR 8120-101 St, 780.436.2286 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

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 • Leif Skyving; Dec 11-13

COMIC STRIP • Bourbon St, WEM • 780.483.5999 • Wed-Fri, Sun 8pm; Fri-Sat 10:30pm • Hit or Miss Mondays: Amateurs and Professionals every Mon, 7:30pm • Battle to the Funny Bone; last Tue each month, 7:30pm • Theo Von; Dec 10-14 • Chris Heward; Dec 18-20 • Ruben Paul; Dec 17-21

CONNIE'S COMEDY AT THE DRAFT BAR & GRILL • Draft Bar & Grill, 12912-50 St • With Mike Harrison as headliner • Dec 17, 7:30pm

DRUID • 11606 Jasper Ave • 780.710.2119 • Comedy night open stage hosted by Lars Callieou • Every Sun, 9pm DJ to follow EMPRESS ALE HOUSE • 9912-82 Ave •

EDMONTON ATHEISTS • Stanley Milner

TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY (TOPS)

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

• 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

EDMONTON NEEDLECRAFT GUILD •

Karma Tashi Ling Society, 10502-70 Ave • Tranquility and insight meditation based on Very Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche's teachings.

Suitable for meditation practitioners with Buddhist leanings • Every Thu, 7-8:30pm • Donations; jamesk2004@hotmail.com

TIBETAN BUDDHIST MAHAMUDRA •

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

EDMONTON OUTDOOR CLUB (EOC) • edmontonoutdoorclub.com • Offering a variety of fun activities in and around Edmonton • Free to join; info at info@edmontonoutdoorclub.com EDMONTON UKULELE CIRCLE • Bogani Café, 2023-111 St • 780.440.3528 • 3rd Sun each month; 2:30-4pm • $5 FOOD ADDICTS • St Luke's Anglican Church, 8424-95 Ave • 780.465.2019, 780.634.5526 • 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 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.org/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,

Empress Comedy Night: featuring a professional headliner every week Every Sun, 9pm

3728-106 St • 780.435.0845 • nawca.ca • Meet every Wed, 6:30pm

AN EVENING WITH TV'S LESLIE JORDAN • Evolution Wonderlounge, 10220-103 St

ORGANIZATION FOR BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE DISORDER (OBAD) • Grey

• Dec 26-27, 7pm • $40 (VIP) $20 (general) • yourgaybar.com

Nuns Hospital, Rm 0651, 780.451.1755; Group meets every Thu, 7-9pm • Free

GERRY DEE " THE REAL MR. D" 2014 comeDy Tour • Jubilee Auditorium, 1415-

POOR VOTE TURNOUT • Rossdale Hall,

14 Ave • Dec 26, 7:30pm

KOMEDY KRUSH • Krush Ultralounge, 16648-109 St • Open Mic followed by Mike Harrison as headliner • Dec 11, 9pm

RIVER CREE–THE VENUE • The King starring Trent Carlini with special guest Joe Esposito. 18+ only • Dec 31, 5pm (doors), 7pm (show) • $39.50

ROUGE LOUNGE • 10111-117 St • Comedy Groove every Wed; 9pm

TRAILER PARK BOYS DEAR SANTA claus go F#ck yourselF Tour • Jubilee Auditorium, 10030-102 St • Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are back with a brand new live show, but this time they are not alone Mr. Lahey and Randy will be there in all their drunken glory • All ages • Dec 15, 8pm • $59.95, $47.50, $34.50 Advance + S/C

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, 7pm-midnight • $15

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

10135-96 Ave • poorvoteturnout.ca • Public meetings: promoting voting by the poor • Every Wed, 7-8pm • Linda Dumont (Editor of Alberta Street News); Dec 17

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 AlbertaEdmonton 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

SEVENTIES FOREVER MUSIC SOCIETY • Call 587.520.3833 for location • deepsoul.ca • Combining music, garage sales, nature, common sense, and kindred karma to revitalize the inward persona • Every Wed, 7-8:30pm SHERWOOD PARK WALKING GROUP + 50 • Meet inside Millennium Place, Sherwood

TOASTMASTERS • Club Bilingue Toastmasters Meetings: Campus

St; Jean: Pavillion McMahon; 780.467.6013, l.witzke@shaw.ca; fabulousfacilitators. toastmastersclubs.org; Meet every Tue, 12:05-1pm • Fabulous Facilitators Toastmasters Club: 2nd Fl, Canada Place, 9700 Jasper Ave; 780.467.6013, l.witzke@shaw.ca; 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 • 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

YOUNG ADULT GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP • Pilgrims Hospice, 9808-148 St • Once a month drop-in support group for young adults (18-30) who would like to connect with others who have experienced a loss. Each group will explore different aspects related to grief and how individuals are coping with their loss • Dec 17 • Donations • info/ register: Jesse McElheran at 780.413.9801, ext 307 WASKAHEGAN TRAIL ASSOCIATION • Meet at McDonalds 8110 Argyll Rd, 83 St, 69 Ave at 9:45am • Riverside walk in St. Albert from the outskirts to town centre. Meet at McDonalds Westmount (11260 Groat Road).

With Hike leader Helen • Dec 14, 9:45am • Guests welcome; annual membership $20 • 780.468.4331

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

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

EDMONTON NATURE CLUB • King’s

SONGWRITERS GROUP • The Carrot, 9351118 Ave • 780.973.5311 • nashvillesongwriters. com • NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) meet the 2nd Mon each month, 7-9pm

SUGAR FOOT SWING DANCE • Sugar Swing, 10545-81 Ave • 587.786.6554 • sugarswing.com • 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

University College, 9125-50 St • With Dr. Geoff Holroyd, retired research scientist with Environment Canada, and Edmonton Christmas Bird Count Guru. Teaching how winter bird populations in Edmonton have changed over the past century • Dec 19, 7pm • Admission by donation • hingston@telusplanet.net • 780.459.6389

SEEING IS ABOVE ALL • Acacia Hall, 10433-83 Ave, upstairs • 780.554.6133 • Free instruction in meditation on the Inner Light • Every Sun, 5pm QUEER AFFIRM SUNNYBROOK–Red Deer

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)

• Sunnybrook United Church, Red Deer • 403.347.6073 • Affirm welcome LGBTQ people and their friends, family, and allies meet the 2nd Tue, 7pm, each month

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

BUDDYS NITE CLUB • 11725 Jasper Ave • 780.488.6636 • Tue with DJ Arrow Chaser, free pool all night; 9pm (door); no cover • Wed with DJ Dust’n Time; 9pm (door); no cover • Thu: Men’s Wet Underwear Contest, win prizes, hosted by Drag Queen DJ Phon3 Hom3; 9pm (door); no cover before 10pm • Fri Dance Party with DJ Arrow Chaser; 8pm (door); no cover before 10pm • Sat: Feel the rhythm with DJ Phon3 Hom3; 8pm (door); no cover before 10pm EPLC FELLOWSHIP PAGAN STUDY GROUP • Pride Centre of Edmonton, 10608105 Ave • 780.488.3234 • eplc.webs.com • Free year long course; Family circle 3rd Sat each month • Everyone welcome

EVOLUTION WONDERLOUNGE • 10220103 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. SPORTS AND RECREATION • teamedmonton.ca • Blazin' Bootcamp: Garneau Elementary School Gym, 10925-87 Ave; Every Mon and Thu, 7pm; $30/$15 (low income/ student); E: bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca • Mindful Meditation: Pride Centre: Every Thu, 6pm; free weekly drop-in • Swimming–Making Waves: NAIT pool, 11762-106 St; E: swimming@teamedmonton.ca; makingwavesswimclub.ca • Martial Arts–Kung Fu and Kick Boxing: Every Tue and Thu, 6-7pm; GLBTQ inclusive adult classes at Sil-Lum Kung Fu; kungfu@teamedmonton.ca, kickboxing@ teamedmonton.ca, sillum.ca G.L.B.T.Q SENIORS GROUP • S.A.G.E Bldg, Craftroom, 15 Sir Winston Churchill Sq • 780.474.8240 • Meeting for gay seniors, and for any seniors who have gay family members and would like some guidance • Every Thu, 1-4pm • Info: E: Tuff69@telus.net

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

MAKING WAVES SWIMMING CLUB •

ST PAUL'S UNITED CHURCH • 11526-76 Ave • 780.436.1555 • People of all sexual orientations are welcome • Every Sun (10am worship)

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 • Mon: Amateur Strip Contest; prizes with Shawana • Tue: Kitchen 3-11pm • Wed: Karaoke with Tizzy 7pm-1am; Kitchen 3-11pm • Thu: Free pool all night; kitchen 3-11pm • Fri: Mocho Nacho Fri: 3pm (door), kitchen open 3-11pm SPECIAL EVENTS CELEBRATE THE SEASON • Alberta Legislature and grounds, 9718-107 St • assembly. ab.ca/visitor/WhatsNew_ListEvents.html • A winter wonderland: 300 trees sparkling with lights; south grounds skating rink; free hot chocolate served in the rotunda in the evenings following the Dec 4 Light-up; choir performances at noon and 6pm daily • Dec 4-23 • Free

CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLE LIGHT SERVICE • North Pointe Community Church, 14025167 Ave • Dec 24, 4pm, 5:30pm, 7pm • Free • northpointechurch.ca

CHRISTMAS IN WONDERLAND: A FREE COMMUNITY EVENT • Studio Church, 5305 Allard Way • studioyeg.com/christmasinwonderland • Re-experience the joys of Christmas once again • Dec 21, 2-5pm • Free

CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS • Fort Edmonton Park, 7000-143 St • Shop for Christmas gifts in the heritage stores, warm up by a bonfire, savour a warm cup of cider or hot chocolate, visit costumed interpreters along the streets, sample baking from the wood stove, construct Christmas crafts and much more • Dec 12-Jan 3 • General admission: $18 (adult), $13 (child), $16 (student/senior), free (kids under 2)

DEEPSOUL.CA • 587.520.3833; call or text for Sunday jam locations: rare LIVE Rendevous Pub Rock Show Sat, Dec 6, 9pm • 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 • Fundraising for local Canadian Disaster Relief, the hungry (world-wide through the Canadian Food Grains Bank)

HOLIDAY ARTS MARKET AND VARIETY SHOW • Yellowhead Brewery, 10229-105 St • An

geocities.com/makingwaves_edm • Recreational/competitive swimming. Socializing after practices • Every Tue/Thu

eclectic assortment of holiday makers, local retail businesses and entertainment • Dec 11, 7-10pm • $10 (adv, door, online at eventbrite.com) • culturecollective.ca

PRIDE CENTRE OF EDMONTON •

IT TAKES TWO • Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel,

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

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

10155-105 St • An evening of awareness raising, hope and healing. A fundraiser in support of those who have been impacted by sexual violence • Feb 11, 5:30-9pm • ittakestwo2015.eventbrite.ca • 780.423.4102 ext. 245

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS • Edmonton Valley Zoo • Staging a spectacular exhibition of artistic light installations within the Edmonton Valley Zoo. There will be winter crafts, ice skating, fire dancers and more • Dec 5-11, 5-9pm • $5 (person), $20 (family) RESPITE 'N REJUVENATE • McKernan Respite Centre, 11341-78 Ave • See the Respite centre, with facility tours, and live folk music provided by Eva Foote. Alley Kat Brewery will also be onsite with craft beer tastings and light snacks will be provided

by The Common • Dec 12, 3-6pm SANTA PHOTOS & HAY RIDES • Marketplace at Callingwood • Meet Santa Claus, get your photo taken with him and get it printed instantly. Hop on a free horse-drawn hay ride • Dec 13, 11am-4pm • callingwoodmarketplace.com SCRAMBLED YEG • Brittany's Lounge, 1022597 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 SINGING CHRISTMAS TREE • Jubilee Auditorium, 11455-87 Ave • Presented by Bill & Grace Knight • Dec 18-21

AT THE BACK 33

CLASSIFIEDS

2005.

To place an ad PHONE: 780.426.1996 / FAX: 780.426.2889 EMAIL: classifieds@vueweekly.com 0195.

Personals

Attractive feminine classy TV, over 50 seeks tall, fit, selfaware, masculine white male over 50 for ???

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Courses/Classes

EPL Free Courses: Edmonton AB Check out the Free Online Interactive Instructor Led Courses offered through the Edmonton Public Library.

Some of the courses for visual artists would include: Creating WordPress Websites, Secrets of Better Photography Beginning Writer’s Workshop many more…

For a list of Free Courses visit: https://www.epl.ca/learn4life For information and instruction on how to get started https://www.epl.ca/learn4life

1005.

Help Wanted

Live-in caregiver required to care for two children Hourly: $10.25 for 44.0 hours / week Permanent Full-Time Completion of high school and experience in childcare required Apply to Sarah & Chris By e-mail: sodolot@hotmail.com

1600.

Volunteers Wanted

Call for Volunteers A reminder that we are currently recruiting volunteers for International Week 2015!

This year I-Week runs from January 26-30, and we are looking for volunteers to fill various positions including: helping with event preparations, assisting with publicity campaigns on and off campus, introducing guest speakers, and helping to ensure that I-Week events run smoothly.

For more information or to apply online http://www.globaled.ualberta.c a/en/AboutGlobalEducation/Vo lunteer.aspx Help someone in crisis take those first steps towards a solution. The Support Network`s Crisis Support Centre is looking for volunteers for Edmonton`s 24-Hour Distress Line. Interested or want to learn more? Contact Lindsay at 780-732-6648 or visit our website: www.TheSupportNetwork.com Help someone in crisis take those first steps towards a solution. The Support Network’s Crisis Support Centre is looking for volunteers! Interested or want to learn more? Contact Maura at 780-392-8723 or visit our website: www.TheSupportNetwork.com

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Help Wanted

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34 AT THE BACK

1600.

Volunteers Wanted

Call for Volunteers We are excited to begin recruiting our amazing team of volunteers for International Week 2015! This year I-Week runs from January 26-30, and we are looking for volunteers to fill various positions including: helping with event preparations, assisting with publicity campaigns on and off campus, introducing guest speakers, and helping to ensure that I-Week events run smoothly.

While volunteering you can make new friends, learn about topical world issues, develop new skill sets, work with likeminded people, and have fun in the process! Sign up to volunteer today and help make International Week 2015 a success!

For more information contact the Global Education Volunteer Coordinator Tatiana Duque at duqueval@ualberta.ca

Christmas in Action with Habitat for Humanity For those who want to give back at Christmastime, we are looking for more volunteers to join us Tuesdays to Saturdays from Dec 1 – 13! We are looking for individuals or groups from 7– 25 volunteers for construction and individuals to join us at our ReStore, our new and used building supplies store. Convincing details! • We offer a great volunteer experience! We know, because we as staff do build days too! • If you’re with a group, your group will be teambuilding: you will be interacting differently and working together in a brand new way • There is indoor work at our prefabrication shop and our ReStores • We have heated indoor work and outdoor work at our Neufeld Landing location • We take plenty of breaks to keep everybody warm on a chilly day • We have hot drinks and free hot lunches for everyone • All equipment and tools are provided • Beginners to tradespeople are welcome • Last but not least, we have a heartwarming task – building homes for families We hope you can join us!

Contact Vilija Rodgers for more information or to sign up at vrodgers@hfh.org or 780-451-3416 ext 236.

Help the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation create a future without breast cancer through volunteerism.

Contact 1-866-302-2223 or ivolunteer@cbcf.org for current volunteer opportunities

Team Edmonton is run by volunteers, and we always welcome new people to help us promote LGBT sports and recreational activities.

Volunteers can assist during particular events or can take advantage of other short-term and ongoing opportunities.

We are currently seeking volunteers to spearhead new activities, take over for retired activity leaders (cross country ski and snowshoe, outdoor pursuits), and to join the Team Edmonton Board.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, or if you would like more information, please contact volunteer@teamedmonton.ca.

1600.

Volunteers Wanted

The Habitat for Humanity November Build Challenge Canadians ski, skate, snowmobile, fish and participate in many other winter activities! Why not make a Habitat build day one of your winter activities?

Habitat needs your help to keep going strong until the end of this year. We are looking for 32 groups of 10 – 25 people to volunteer with us this November. Would you be one of them?

Contact Kim Dedeugd for more information or sign up at kdedeugd@hfh.org or 780-451-3416 ext 232 Want to make a difference for patients and their families at the Cross Cancer Institute?

Volunteer with the Alberta Cancer Foundation today and help redefine the future of cancer in Alberta.

Opportunities are available throughout the year. www.albertacancer.ca/volunteer 1.866.412.4222 Wanted: Volunteers for our Long Term Care facility!

Individuals or groups welcome!

Vulnerable Sector search by EPS is required Please contact Janice Graff Volunteer Coordinator – Extendicare Eaux Claires for more information: jgraff@extendicare.com 780-472-1106 ext 202

2005.

Artist to Artist

ACRYLIC ARTISTS! Don’t miss GOLDEN Working Artist Samantha WilliamsChapelsky’s lecture/demo on the 1001 ways you can use GOLDEN acrylic paints, mediums, gels & pastes, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015, 7-9PM in the Studio at The Paint Spot (10032-81 Avenue, Edmonton).

Admission, $10, confirms your place and is refunded to you at the event as a coupon. Plus, GOLDEN gives a generous Just Paint goodies bag to all attending artists! Further information or RSVP: 780.432.0240; accounts@paintspot.ca; www.paintspot.ca.

ART GALLERY OF ST ALBERT CALL FOR ARTISTS FOR VAULT EXHIBIT SPACE seeks proposals from artists interested in utilizing this space for short term exhibitions of single artworks created or tailored for this space. Further details on the specifications of the space as well as images of this space can be found on our website.

ArtGalleryofStAlbert.com.

For more information please contact Jenny WillsonMcGrath, Exhibition Curator/ Interim Director jennyw@artgalleryofstalbert.ca 780.651.5741 Art on the Patio will join art, music, and food, as artists and artisans display and sell their work during the very popular Festival Place Patio Series.

This is a free opportunity that will be scheduled for four dates this coming summer. Six artists per week will be scheduled.

Artists may book a maximum of two weeks.

This event will occur on Wednesday evenings. Set up time will be from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and take down after the evenings performance concludes (approximately 9:30-10:00 pm).

Interested in learning more?

Email artgallery@strathcona.ca

Artist to Artist

Art in Transit is now accepting submissions for Sketching the Line, returning for its second year to screens in Spring 2015!

Sketching the Line is a public exhibition that showcases the work of Canadian and international artists who explore the inspiring and creative potential of their daily commute.

Submit your sketches for a chance to participate in the upcoming exhibition. Selected works will be featured on PATTISON Onestop screens in the Toronto transit system, Edmonton transit system and the Calgary Airport, reaching well over one million travellers each day. An honorarium will be awarded to all participating artists.

Deadline January 31,2015 http://www.artintransit.ca/archi ves/sketching-line-callsubmissions.html?mc_cid=925 2147d70&mc_eid=08064c2cf8 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: BUDAPEST The Open Call will begin on June 25, 2014, we have every months jury selection until April 15, 2015. Apply early!

HMC International Artist Residency Program, a not-forprofit arts organization based in Dallas, TX / Budapest, Hungary – provides national and international artists to produce new work while engaging with the arts community in Budapest, Hungary.

FOR APPLICATION FORM, questions please contact us.

Email: bszechy@yahoo.com Call For Exhibition Proposals: Red Deer, AB Harris-Warke Gallery, Red Deer Deadline: January 31 annually The gallery encourages exposure to a wide variety of Arts. In addition to painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, jewellery, textiles and all combinations of mixed and multi-media, They hope to feature some of the less often exhibited art forms, such as literary art, landscape art, culinary art and music. We are open to an eclectic definition of art. In concert with this mandate, the downtown location facilitates a viewing public from various walks of life.

Questions and comments should be directed to: harriswarke@gmail.com Call for One Act Play Submissions: Stage Struck! is a one-act play festival sponsored by the Alberta Drama Festival Association, Edmonton Region. The Festival will be held at La Cite on Feb 27-28, 2015. For more information or to request a registration package, contact Mary-Ellen Perley at 780-481-3716 or email at mperley@shaw.ca. Award winning playwright Vern Thiessen is our adjudicator this year!

Call For Submissions for Prairie Wood Solutions Fair Award recognition for outstanding wood architecture.

New online submission process is now open, visit the following link to our website for information on the nomination process and to create and application.

Contact Communications Coordinator, Barbara Murray at 780-392-0761 or bmurray@wood-works.ca for more information. Important dates: Nomination deadline: January 23, 2015 Gala and award presentation on March 17, 2015 Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton, AB

2005.

Artist to Artist

Call For Submission: Directory Of Ukrainian Artists in Alberta Do you weave, embroider or make pottery ? Do you write stories, pysanky or music ? Do you direct a choir, dance group or play in a band ? The Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts would love to hear from you and everyone else involved in the arts.

The Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts is pleased to announce that we are accepting submissions for our new online “Directory of Ukrainian Artists in Alberta”.

Additional information and submission forms are available by contacting: Elena Scharabun Directory Coordinator, ACUA directory@acuarts.ca 780-975-3077

Call for Visual Artists: Everything Cannot Be True: art with/in the everyday Taking place March 5 – 8, 2015, the exhibit will occupy the main gallery at the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, 9225 – 118 Avenue This is a wonderful opportunity for your artwork to be presented to a diverse festival audience, partaking in Variety Showcases, Comedy, Theatre and Play Development, Music, Dance, Spoken Word, Visual Art, Artistic Collaborations, Yoga, and Family events.

Five artists will be chosen to display up to 3 works apiece, alongside two artists representing both the Nina Haggerty Centre and the SkirtsAfire Festival. We are looking for women working in all mediums, and hoping for as vast a range as possible.

Please read our prospectus below, for further details on the focus of the exhibit. Interested applicants will submit at least 3 to 5 high quality images of recently completed work, including a bio and artist statement.

Deadline for applications is Friday, December 19, 2014.

Chosen artists will be notified

by January 5, 2015. http://form.jotform.ca/form/430 18816035248

Call to Makers, Mercer Collective: A Maker’s Market You must MAKE, BAKE or CREATE what you sell. You can not be a reseller of goods not produced by you.

Costs: $60 per market December show is $200 Additional Fees Table Rental is available at $10 per show. Please specify 6 ft or 4 ft. Limited quantities available.

Show Dates: March 29,April 26, Sept 27,October 25, November 22 December 13-14 – $200

http://www.emailmeform.com/ builder/form/er27bvY7c0dhM9 0B9dX49

Loft Art Gallery and Gift Shop – Open November 1 to December 21 with smaller artworks by the artists of the Art Society of Strathcona County.

Open Saturdays 10 to 4 pm and Sundays 12 to 4 pm for your viewing and purchasing pleasure. Unique art pieces and gifts for the holiday season.

Visit the A. J. Ottewell Community Centre, and enjoy!

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

2005.

Artist to Artist

Micro-Residency Program, CultureHub, New York Deadline: December 12, 2014 Submit a copy of your resumé or CV, links to portfolio or work samples, a proposal of no more than 500 words, and a short biography. The application deadline is December 12th, 2014.

For more information and a full list of available resources please contact residency@culturehub.org or visit http://www.culturehub.org/resid ency/ <http://carfacbc.us2.listmanage.com/track/click?u=a05 abc75b65eaa7c803675a2a&a mp;id=16541923cc&amp;e=08 064c2cf8 CultureHub http://carfacbc.us2.listmanage.com/track/click?u=a05 abc75b65eaa7c803675a2a&a mp;id=16541923cc&amp;e=08 064c2cf8 NATIONAL CALL TO ARTISTS: Rogers Place Arena – Community Rink, Sculpture in the Landscape The Sculpture in the Landscape public art competition is a National Call open to all professional artists residing in Canada and is held in accordance with the City of Edmonton policy “Percent for Art to Provide and Encourage Art in Public Areas” (C458C).

Budget: $300,000.00 CAD (maximum, all inclusive) Deadline for Submissions: 4:30 pm on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Installation: August 2016 The EAC and the City of Edmonton invite artists to address any questions by email to abowes@edmontonarts.ca Opportunities for artists to exhibit in Budapest: Open call for book artists! Library Thoughts 5 :An exhibition of the Book as Art Artist’s Books and book-related art Deadline: March 1, 2015 fee: USD$ 35 Book as Art exhibition organized at MAMU Gallery, Budapest June 12 – July 3, 2015 . The exhibition curator Beata Szechy.

Part of the AIR/HMC, Budapest, International Artists in Residency program. info, application form e-mail Beata Szechy bszechy@yahoo.com http://www.hungarianmulticultural-center.com Facebook: Budapest International Artist Residency Silver Skate Festival 9th Annual Cessco International Snow Sculpture Symposium February 13 – 16, 2015 Hawrelak Park, Artists are invited to let their creative side run wild and are invited to apply to create sculptures in their own individual style. A People Choice and Artist Choice will be announced at the Everyone is a Winner Ceremony.

Two – Three person teams create works of art from an 8’ high x 8’ wide x 8’ deep block of snow within a 30’ x 30’ area and each snow sculpture is as unique as the artists that create them. The twelve pristine sculptures create a ephemeral sculpture garden for the Silver Skate audience to enjoy Please find attached the link to the Silver Skate Festival Snow Sculpture Symposium Application http://www.pocobrio.com/go/do wnloads/SSF-SculptureRegistration-Form-2015.pdf Application Deadline: December 15, 2014

2005.

Artist to Artist

SKETCHBOOK SHOW – CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS) We are looking for sketchbooks to show in a small exhibition that will open the New Year in our Artisan Nook Gallery at The Paint Spot (10032 81 Avenue, Edmonton).

If you have a sketchbook you’d like to share, please bring it into The Paint Spot before the end of December or let us know that you are planning to bring it in during the 1st week in January. Show runs January 5 to February 17, 2015.

We want to show the multitude of creative things you can do with a sketchbook. Especially if you use a variety of media or are the possessor of a strong drawing style – we need your books!

Please join us. For more information call us at 780.432.0240 or email accounts@paintspot.ca.

A perk: Exhibiting artists receive a 20% discount for the duration of the exhibition!

The Emmanuel College Art Department offers an eightweek artists residency to four artists each summer. The residency supports a diverse group of artists, providing time and space for established and emerging artists to develop their work.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 residency. All applications must be received by Feb 1st, 2015. http://www.emmanuel.edu/aca demics/programs-of-studydepartments/art/artist-inresidence.html The From Our Dark Side competition is a national English-language contest seeking the best in Canadian female-driven genre film ideas, written by women.

Genre films can include thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror - or an imaginative combination of these.

We’re looking for the strongest and most original concepts that really grab us - we encourage writers to let the creative genie out of her bottle.

Writers are invited to submit their maximum 3-5 page outlines by January 15, 2015 for a chance to win a cash prize and a mentorship package designed to help them get their projects to the screen. Mentors include female genre directors such as Rachel Talalay (Dr. Who), Karen Lam (Evangeline) and Amanda Tapping (Continuum), as well as marketing expert Annelise Larson.

The competition is organized

by Women in Film and Television Vancouver (WIFTV), and supported by Super Channel, Telefilm Canada and Creative BC. For contest rules & registration, visit our website at www.womeninfilm.ca The Reel Shorts Film Festival is accepting submissions until midnight on Monday, December 15 for the 9th festival May 6-10, 2015 in Grande Prairie, Alberta. There is no submission fee and filmmakers will be paid screening fees if their film is selected. All Official Selections are eligible for the Audience Choice Award and three Juried Awards: Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short.

Each winning film will receive an award designed by Grande Prairie sculptor Grant Berg and made by Decca Industries in Clairmont with a base made by D.R. Sales Woodworking in Grande Prairie. Submission details can be found at reelshorts.ca/submit/

2020.

Musicians Wanted

A band from the 80s called MILLIONS is now forming a new band called( ZILLIONS)drummer & bass player looking for 2 guitar players with vocals & a front lead vocalist,starting in the new year 2015,call 780-966-7394 time to ROCK Established alt-rock band ‘keep me safe’ seeks new guitarist for power trio.

Must be: A) a good person B) a gifted player C) with punk sensibilities D) who wants to commit & advance. contact field 780-885-9632 Guitarists, bassists, vocalists, pianists and drummers needed for good paying teaching jobs.

Please call 780-901-7677

2020.

Musicians Wanted

3320.

Looking for players for blues rock Contact Derek at 780-577-0991

MSA Rose Dynevac Self retracting lanyard galvanized 3/16 cable 50 ft. with emergency rescuer.

Manufacturer date: 2002 $650 Ph: 780.467.8658 or 587.520.9746

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

3320.

Tools

6600.

Tools

MSA Dynalock 3/16 stainless steel self retractable lanyard 50ft certified 2013 $500 ph: 780.467.5658 or 587.520.9746

Automobile Service

RIVERCITY MOTORS LTD 20 plus years of VW Audi dealer training. Warranty approved maintenance.

8733-53 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 5E9 www.rivercitymotors.ca

ALBERTA-WIDE CLASSIFIEDS •• AUCTIONS ••

3” wide version call now 1-866-668-6629.

Website: www.tcvend.com.

Heavy Duty Mechanic to repair fleet of track hoes, Cats, graders, heavy trucks. $40 plus/hour depending on experience. Must have valid driver’s licence. Send resume: wrenchitright@gmail.com.

•• CAREER TRAINING The freshest franchise in•• Canada is ripe for the picking.

MEDICAL BILLING Trainees

MEIER GUN AUCTION. Saturday, December 20, 11 a.m., 6016 - 72A Ave., Edmonton. Over 150 guns Handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting and fishing equipment.

To consign 780-440-1860.

FRANCHISES AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA

needed! Learn to process & submit claims for hospitals and doctors! No experience needed!

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FREEWILLASTROLOGY ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 19): Lord Byron (1788 – 1824) was an English poet who loved animals. In the course of his life, he not only had dogs and cats as pets, but also monkeys, horses, peacocks, geese, a crocodile, a falcon, a crane and a parrot. When he enrolled in Trinity College at age 17, he was upset that the school's rules forbade students from having pet dogs, which meant he couldn't bring his adored Newfoundland dog Boatswain. There was no regulation, however, against having a tame bear as a pet. So Byron got one and named it Bruin. I think it's time for you to find a workaround like that, Aries.

Be cunning. Try a gambit or two.

Find a loophole.

TAURUS (Apr 20 – May 20): Whenever I lost one of my baby teeth as a kid, I put it under my pillow before I went to sleep. During the night, the Tooth Fairy snuck into my room to snatch the tooth and in its place left me 25 cents.

The same crazy thing happened to every kid I knew, although for unknown reasons my friend John always got five dollars for each of his teeth—far more than the rest of us. I see a metaphorically comparable development in your life, Taurus. It probably won't involve teeth or a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Rather, you will finally be compensated for a loss or deprivation or disappearance that you experienced in the past. I expect the restitution will be generous, too—more like John's than mine.

GEMINI (May 21 – Jun 20): Through the scientific magic of grafting, a single tree can be altered to grow several different kinds of fruit at the same time.

One type of "fruit-salad tree" produces apricots, nectarines, plums and peaches, while another bears grapefruits, lemons, oranges, limes and tangelos. I'm thinking this might be an apt and inspiring symbol for you in the coming months, Gemini. What multiple blooms will you create on your own metaphorical version of a fruit-salad tree?

CANCER (Jun 21 – Jul 22): No other structure on the planet is longer than the Great Wall of China, which stretches 6350 kilometres. It's not actually one unbroken span, though. Some sections aren't connected and there are redundant branches that are roughly parallel to the main structure. It reminds me of your own personal Great Wall, which is monumental yet permeable, strong in some ways but weak in others, daunting to the casual observer but less so to those who take the time to study it. Now is an excellent time to take inventory of that wall of yours. Is it serving you well? Is it keeping out the influences you don't want but allowing in the influences you do want? Could it use some renovation? Are you willing to reimagine what its pur-

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pose is and how you want it to work for you in the future?

LEO (Jul 23 – Aug 22): The Arctic Monkeys are British rockers that have produced five studio albums, which together have sold almost five million copies. Rolling Stone magazine called the band's first album, released in 2003, the 30th greatest debut of all time.

Yet when they first formed in 2002, none of the band members could play a musical instrument.

I see the current era of your life, Leo, as having a similar potential.

How might you start from scratch to create something great?

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sep 22): Alan Turing (1912 – 1954) was a British mathematician and pioneering computer scientist. After the Second World War broke out, he got worried that the German army might invade and occupy England, as it had done to France. To protect his financial assets, he converted everything he owned into bars of silver, then buried them underground in the countryside north of London. When the war ended, he decided it was safe to dig up his fortune. Unfortunately, he couldn't recall where he had put it and never did find it. Let's draw a lesson from his experience, Virgo. It's fine if you want to stash a treasure or protect a secret or safeguard a resource.

That's probably a sensible thing to do right now. But make sure you remember every detail about why and how you're doing it.

LIBRA (Sep 23 – Oct 22): Even if you are not formally enrolled in a course of study or a training program, you are nevertheless being schooled. Maybe you're not fully conscious of what you have been learning. Maybe your teachers are disguised or unwitting. But I assure you that the universe has been dropping some intense new knowledge on you. The coming week will be an excellent time to become more conscious of the lessons you have been absorbing.

If you have intuitions about where this educational drama should go next, be proactive about making that happen.

SCORPIO (Oct 23 – Nov 21): You now have a special ability to detect transformations that are happening below the threshold of everyone else's awareness.

Anything that has been hidden or unknown will reveal itself to your gentle probes. You will also be skilled at communicating your discoveries to people who are important to you. Take full advantage of these superpowers. Don't underestimate how pivotal a role you can play as a teacher, guide and catalyst. The future success of your collaborative efforts depends on your next moves.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21): Harper Lee was born and raised in Alabama. At the age of 23, she

ROB BREZSNY FREEWILL@VUEWEEKLY.COM

relocated to New York City with hopes of becoming a writer. It was a struggle. To support herself, she worked as a ticket agent for airline companies. Finding the time to develop her craft was difficult. Seven years went by. Then one Christmas, two friends gave her a remarkable gift: enough money to quit her job and work on her writing for a year. During that grace period, Lee created the basics for a book that won her a Pulitzer Prize: To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't foresee anything quite as dramatic for you in the coming months, Sagittarius. But I do suspect you will receive unexpected help that provides you with the slack and spaciousness you need to lay the foundations for a future creation.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19): In the ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey, Odysseus' wife Penelope describes two kinds of dreams. "Those that pass through the gate of ivory," she says, are deceptive, but dreams that "come forth through the gate of polished horn" tell the truth. Another ancient text echoes these ideas. In his poem the Aeneid, Virgil says that "true visions" arrive here from the land of dreams through the gate of horn, whereas "deluding lies" cross over through the gate of ivory. Judging from the current astrological omens, Capricorn, I expect you will have interesting and intense dreams flowing through both the gate of ivory and the gate of horn. Will you be able to tell the difference?

Trust love.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18): Your chances of going viral are better than usual. It's a perfect moment to upload a Youtube video of yourself wearing a crown of black roses and a V for Vendetta mask as you ride a unicycle inside a church and sing an uptempo parody version of "O Come All Ye Faithful." It's also a favourable time for you to create a buzz for you and your pet causes through less spectacular measures. Promote yourself imaginatively.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20): At age 80, author Joan Didion has published five novels, 10 works of non-fiction and five screenplays.

When she was 27, she wrote, "I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be."

That wasn't a good thing, she added: "We are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.

Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends." I recommend her counsel to you in the coming months, Pisces. Get reacquainted with the old selves you have outgrown and abandoned. V AT THE BACK 35

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Online porn gets reclassified

with a combined circulation of over 800,000 for only...

ment is telling adults what is and is not acceptable sexual expression.

Right or wrong, these restrictions have been in force for decades, the issue with the amendment that

done by putting automatic filters on the net and limiting people's access to kinky porn? If these things protect children, isn't it worth the small price to individual freedom?

It's hard to see how these measures protect children. The R18 rating applies only to paid-to-view websites and only those in the UK. Most under-agers who search for porn don't pay for it. They don't have access to credit cards and if they do, they certainly wouldn't risk having a porn site show up on the statement. The free content they access originates from all over the world and can't be controlled in this way.

Internet filters are notoriously easy to dismantle or side-step and teenagers are among the most skilful at it.

It seems that the only people who will suffer from this new legislation are adult consumers and producers Program-value-ad.indd of alternative porn—the vast majority of which depicts completely legal and consensual sexual activity. V

The free content they access originates from all over the world and can’t be controlled in this way. went into effect on December 1 is that people who turned to the web to access alternative porn because they couldn't get it on DVD will lose access to all of the UK sites. British producers of alternative and kinky porn are looking at the very real possibility of going out of business completely.

The British government seems to have been waging a war against online pornography over the last few years. By the end of this year, a new system will be in place whereby anyone who sets up a broadband Internet account will automatically have family friendly filters installed.

If they don't want the filters, they will have to remove them manually; that is, if they are even aware the filters are on.

At first glance, it might seem like a small issue. Is there any actual harm

Brenda Kerber is a sexual health educator who has worked with local not-for-profits since 1995. She is the owner of the Edmonton-based, sexpositive adult toy boutique the Traveling Tickle Trunk.

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UK porn restrictions mean online content has to get rid of kink Last week, headlines all over the world announced that the British government introduced a long list of sex acts that are now banned from depiction in pornography. The headlines are somewhat misleading; the list of banned sex acts is not new. The R18 rating, which is used to determine whether an adult-content video can be sold in UK sex shops or screened in adult-only cinemas, has been around for many years. What is new is that the R18 classification will now apply to payto-view online porn.

Media has focused on the list of banned acts itself. While R18 restrictions are supposed to control access to media that depicts illegal activities such as sex with children, and sex without consent (sexual assault), it extends far beyond that to include things like bondage, spanking, penetration with large objects, urine play, face-sitting and female ejaculation, even if they are shown to be consensual. The list does seem to lean heavily against consensual kink.

It's of particular concern that these things are banned in DVDs and movie screenings—media that's difficult for children to access on their own.

Essentially then, the British govern-

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AT THE BACK 37

JONESIN' CROSSWORD

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38 AT THE BACK

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MATT JONES JONESINCROSSWORDS@VUEWEEKLY.COM

GENDER SOLID

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65 Once around ©2014 Jonesin' Crosswords

You may not be the right person to answer this, but your commenters might be able to help. I love and support my friends who are transgender, but I don't understand all the 18- to 21-year-olds among my friends who are declaring themselves "gender-neutral." I am a bit older and have always been interested in queer culture and history.

But it feels like they have forgotten, or never knew, that butch lesbians who wear strap-ons are still women, or that it is very common for straight men to wear lacy underwear. They don't seem to know that they can be gender nonconforming without having to discard gender.

Because they're so young and all of them have decided this at the same time, it seems to be some kind of trend. Some may be on their way to coming out as trans, which is fair enough, but I strongly suspect some of them will be completely conventional in a couple of years.

It would be rude and dismissive of me to tell them that it's just a phase, so I would never do that, but I don't really understand the point of being gender-neutral. What has changed in the last few years that this is suddenly a thing?

Longtime Reader Ah, gender identities—you need an Excel spreadsheet to keep track these days.

Some folks are gender-neutral, some are bigender, some are agender. Then there's pangender, genderless, genderfluid and genderqueer. There's also gender-nonconforming, gender-questioning, gender-variant, as well as genderfuck, trigender and intergender. (Who gets a hyphen and who doesn't? Who the fuck-knows?)

Add in every genderblueplatespecial's very own set of random and unpredictable and ever-shifting pronoun preferences and you've got a blizzard of special snowflakes, each one primed to take offense at some real or imagined microaggression so they can dash to Tumblr for some macro-venting.

What has changed in the last few years? There's more discussion about gender now, LR, and that's a good thing. Culturally enforced gender norms are ridiculous, and the policing of gender expression/ identity is oppressive and often violent. This critical and necessary discussion about gender has sparked a great deal of interest in—and, in some quarters, generated a lot of sympathy for—people who aren't just talking about gender but struggling with it, doing something about it and redefining it. But "interest in" and "sympathy for" have a way of attracting poseurs and attention-seekers. That's nothing new. Pay sympathetic attention to a plate of tater tots long enough and it'll attract poseurs and attention-seekers, too.

But since it's (almost always) impossible to tell the attentionseeking poseurs from the actual

items, LR, your best course of action when someone declares themselves to be gender-neutral—or bigender or pangender or etceteragender—is to smile, nod, inquire about pronoun preferences, make a mental note not to use pronouns around that person (easier than committing multiple sets to memory) and then change the genderfucking subject.

PRONOUNS PLEASE

I recently "friended" someone online whose bio mentions that their preferred pronoun is "their." They are not a transgender person. I've been told that they are "genderfluid," but it is commonly understood in our friend group that they are female.

Questions: 1) If you're genderfluid, are you suddenly not male or female? Does anyone really need to say that they're genderfluid? Aren't we all a bit fluid where gender is concerned? 2) Does someone who is cisgender take away from the "trans experience" by taking on pronouns like "they/their" or "ze/zir," or are they being helpful by normalizing these pronouns? 3) Am I a jerk for asking these questions? I want to be sensitive to gender issues, but I'm worried that I can't keep up.

Observant One Prefers She 1) A genderfluid person is someone "whose gender identity shifts," says the Washington Post. Wikipedia defines genderfluidity like this: "Moving between genders or with a fluctuating gender identity." An actual genderfluid person—Astrophy—put it this way in a post at Jezebel: "I am genderfluid, though I was assigned female at birth. ...

What does this mean? For me, it means that sometimes I am a woman, sometimes I am a man and sometimes I am androgynous. I do not mean that sometimes I feel manly; in every internal sense, I am a man in those moments."

So someone who is genderfluid isn't a mélange of stereotypically male and female traits, OOPS, but someone who is man sometimes and a woman at other times.

2) Helpful, I suppose, but nevertheless exhausting, potentially attention-whoring and doubtless contributing to the extinction of pronouns altogether.

3) There's being sensitive to gender issues and then there's being so sensitive to gender issues that you're practically allergic. But rest assured: you are not a jerk, OOPS, as there are so many freshly minted gender identities and pronouns sloshing around out there that no one can keep up.

CLOSETS OF ASEXUALITY My intelligent, lovely, in-all-waysphenomenal 18-year-old daughter just came out to me: as asexual!

I am struggling with my reaction to this. If she had said she was a lesbian, I would have been fine with it, except for all that discrimination and stuff. I will always support

VUEWEEKLY.com | DEC 11 – DEC 17, 2014

her, but I can't help but think that 1) something bad happened to her that (despite my near-helicopter parenting) I don't know about, and/ or 2) she'll miss out! Is asexuality really a thing? Can it be some sort of opt-out-of-this-sex-stuff-untillater thing? 'Cause that I get.

Parenting Asexual Undergrad Since Evening Asexuality is a real thing, PAUSE, and your daughter could be an intelligent and phenomenal example.

That said ... for some, asexuality has functioned as an opt-out-ofthis-sex-stuff-until-later thing. But just as some gay men identifying as bisexual before coming out as gay doesn't mean bisexuality is a phase (or nonexistent), the fact that some people identify as asexual before ultimately coming out as—here we go—heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, greysexual, demisexual, autosexual, antisexual, hyposexual, etc, etc, etc isn't proof that asexuality isn't a real thing.

Keep listening to your daughter, PAUSE, and learn more about asexuality at the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (asexuality.org).

NATURAL THREESOMES

I love your column, Dan, but I wanted to clear something up. Recently someone wrote to you that they— or their spouse—wanted to have a threesome, but only if it happened "naturally." You said that was impossible: "Three-ways don't happen that way," you said. But I'm proof that they do. I am a female in my mid-20s and I've been openly bi since I was 12. I'm not particularly fond of threesomes, but I go with the flow. I've already had three happen naturally and one "almost" that I stopped due to "timing issues." (Three MFF and one FFF.) My advice: if you can get a three-way massage or a game of strip-anything going, you're in for the gold.

Alcohol really helps, too.

Girl Gone There Perhaps I should've said that threesomes rarely happen naturally, GGT, while emphasizing that individual results may vary. But a relationship is far likelier to survive an "unnatural" threesome—one that has been planned in advance— than it is to survive a spontaneous threesome. Unsexy negotiations about limits and boundaries, hashing out what is and is not OK and discussions about STIs and birth control are nearly impossible to have as your clothes are coming off. So threesomes that people drink, massage or strip-poker their way into are likelier to result in the kind of hurt feelings that lead to breakups and make all threesomes, spontaneous or planned, look dangerous and risky.

On the Lovecast, the science is in on teen sexting: listen at savagelovecast.com.V @fakedansavage on Twitter

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