vue weekly 794 Jan 6 2011

2 // UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

COVER

INSIDE

IssuE no. 794 // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Looking back and turning the year up to 11

UP FRONT // 4/ 4 6 7 8 8

Vuepoint Media Links Dyer Straight In the Box Bob the Angry Flower

DISH // 13/ 14 To the Pint

//Everywhere (Just flip for it)

EDUCATION

ARTS // 17 18 Prairie Artsters

FILM // 40 44 DVD Detective

MUSIC // 46/ 47 Music Notes 50 New Sounds 51 Old Sounds 51 Quickspins

// 19 VUETUBE

BACK // 53 54 Free Will Astrology 54 Queermonton 54 Lust for Life

LISTINGS 39 Arts 45 Film 48 Music 53 Events

Carrie Day WATCH CARRIE DAY AT THE VUE WEEKLY STUDIO vueweekly.com/vuetube

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IssuE no. 794 // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011 // Available at over 1400 locations Editor / Publisher.......................................... RON GARTH // ron@vueweekly.com MANAGING Editor............................................. EDEN MUNRO // eden@vueweekly.com associate mANAGING editor................... BRYAN BIRTLES // bryan@vueweekly.com NEWS Editor........................................................ SAMANTHA POWER // samantha@vueweekly.com Arts / Film Editor........................................... PAUL BLINOV // paul@vueweekly.com Music Editor....................................................... EDEN MUNRO // eden@vueweekly.com Dish Editor........................................................... BRYAN BIRTLES // bryan@vueweekly.com creative services manager.................... MICHAEL SIEK // mike@vueweekly.com production.......................................................... CHELSEA BOOS // che@vueweekly.com ART DIRECTOR....................................................... PETE NGUYEN // pete@vueweekly.com Senior graphic designer........................... LYLE BELL // lyle@vueweekly.com WEB/MULTIMEDIA MANAGER........................ ROB BUTZ // butz@vueweekly.com LISTINGS ................................................................ GLENYS SWITZER // glenys@vueweekly.com

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COVER ILLUSTRATION PETE NGUYEN // pete@vueweekly.com CONTRIBUTORS Ricardo Acuña, Steve Anderson, Mike Angus, David Berry, Rob Breszny, Chelsea Boos, Josef Braun, Rob Breszny,Jeremy Derksen, Gwynne Dyer, Cam Fenton, Amy Fung, Brian Gibson, Hart Golbeck, Tamara Gorzalka, James Grasdal, Joe Gurba, Michael Hingston, Carolyn Jervis, Brenda Kerber, Stephen Notley, Roland Pemberton, Jenn Prosser, LS Vors, Dave Young Distribution Todd Broughton, Alan Ching, Barrett DeLaBarre, Mike Garth, Aaron Getz, Raul Gurdian, Justin Shaw, Dale Steinke, Wally Yanish

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

UP FRONT // 3

UP FRONT

EDITORIAL

Vuepoint Rotating door samantha power // samantha@vueweekly.com

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e all have jobs we're not that interested in doing. Those things we know we have to do, or at least make it look like we're doing. So it's no surprise that someone like Prime Minister Harper may have those same reluctant but obligatory tasks. Unfortunately, for him and, well, everyone, one of those tasks is dealing with the environment.

With the recent cabinet shuffle replacing yet another environment minister, Harper has now had more environment ministers in four years than Chretien did in 10. Of all the MPs who have held the position in the last four years, perhaps Rona Ambrose's story is the most telling. Ambrose was brutally honest with Canadians, telling them that at the current rate we would never meet our Kyoto targets and then introduced a Clean Air Act that proposed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by only a fraction of what Kyoto proposed. It was an act that could not have gone forward without the Prime Minister being in favour of it, because a cabinet minister would never get away with some of the wacky proposals backbenchers are let through

YOURVUE

GRASDAL'S VUE

with. And therein lies part of the reason Harper has blown through so many environment ministers. Any MP must balance the demands of the constituents who elected them as well as the party they represent, but as a cabinet minister there is the added responsibility of making sure the Prime Minister is looking good, sometimes stepping in front of the oncoming attack to take the hit for him.

And nowhere is that responsibility more evident than environment—a portfolio the government must deal with, but really rather wouldn't. The minister is responsible for ensuring it looks like the government is doing something on climate change while balancing a party and a prime minister that don't actually want to do anything about it. John Baird suffered a similar fate after failing to make anything of the conference at Bali and acting surprised when it was proven human activity was responsible for climate change. Baird was dumped in a cabinet shuffle in November of 2008. Next at bat was Jim Prentice, who ultimately resigned to join the private sector at CIBC, not completing his term.

It's a wonder the office hasn't set up a rotating door. Bets welcome for how long Peter Kent will last. V

Your Vue is the weekly roundup of all your comments and views of our coverage. Every week we'll be running your comments from the website, feedback on our weekly web polls and any letters you send our editors.

WEBPOLLS go to vueweekly.com and have your say

Last week Michael Ignatieff has said his job in 2010 was to get his party ready for an election.

Do you think a 2011 federal election is likely?

PODCAST

This Week The final piece of Edmonton's downtown plan was approved Monday. What do you think will contribute to downtown revitalization?

1. Increased office space

Yes, I can't wait to vote! 66.7% No, Harper's government will live to see 2012. 33.3%

2. Decreased number of parking lots 3. Increased walkability and living space 4. Other

Comment from poll:

"They might trigger another election but it'll be the same result."

4 // UP FRONT

Check out vueweekly.com to vote and give us your comments.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Alberta's eugenics plan is an often overlooked and extremely controversial piece of the province's history. We speak with the author of the new book Eugenics and the Firewall, Jane Harris-Zsovan, to explore Alberta's hidden and often denied past.

COMMENT FROM SITE:

"Interesting, if incomplete article. You failed to mention anything about Dutch gin (genever) which is quite distinct from London dry gin, and is most often consumed chilled as schnapps, with a beer chaser. Considering that the first gins came from the Netherlands, it would be interesting to know how the taste in gin diverged."

"The history of gin" (Dec 3, 2010 - Jan 5, 2011) - kaoktic

Defining democracy

2010 challenged our definitions of democracy samantha power // samantha@vueweekly.com

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emocracy can be defined in several ways. Our freedom to assemble, the right to free speech and our ability to fully participate in the democratic process are often debated in our country as the measures of our democracy, but no matter how you measure and debate, the one thing that continually took a hit in 2010 was our democracy, and access to civil liberties. From the ability to protest to the simple request from Canadians that Members of Parliament sit for their parliamentary session, democracy in Canada and internationally took a beating.

Democracy was not off to a good start this time last year as Prime Minister Harper had announced in December that the House would not be reconvening on January 25 as originally planned. Instead, Harper would prorogue Parliament until March in order to "deal with the Olympics" as was publicly stated. Our access to government and debate was limited as Parliament went into a three-month-long hiatus, which didn't stop Harper's government from negotiating the Buy American trade deal.

What Harper couldn't have expected with this move was that he would inspire a social media movement that would be Canada's first large online show of activism. What seemed a debate over parliamentary procedure to some became a rallying cry for Canadians to stand up against declining openness in the federal government.

The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament gathered over 210 000 members on Facebook as well as 60 rallies across Canada, London and the US. While the protests failed to convince Harper to reconvene Parliament, it was the first national use of social media to activate Canadians, and if the G20 hadn't happened, would have been the largest challenge to our definition of democracy in 2010.

But then the G20 happened and our basic civil liberties were challenged as they haven't been since times of war.

Our freedom to assemble came under fire as over 1000 seemingly random arrests occurred. Overly aggressive police officers, random arrests of downtown travellers and miscommunicated mandates and procedures have left Canadians wondering just how easy it is to express an opinion. The release this

past December of the ombudsman of Ontario's report into the whole debacle determined the police were operating under a piece of legislation that never should have passed through Ontario's legislature. Regulation 233/10 gave police unconstitutional powers and infringed on "freedom of expression in ways that do not seem justifiable in a free and democratic society."

According to Marin's report, the lack of communication to citizens made this new regulation "Ontario's best kept secret in Legislative history" and "changed the rules of the game. It gave police powers that are unfamiliar in a free and democratic society."

But the G20 wasn't the first instance of the government flexing its security muscle. The Olympics in Vancouver just a few months earlier gave a taste of what G20 demonstrators could expect; over 17 000 private security personnel were hired for the event, with 900 CCTV cameras and a close to one-billion-dollar security budget, the Vancouver Olympics challenged citizens' ability to move around their city freely.

Even here in Edmonton citizens were faced with some interesting questions surrounding the democratic process.

With the Edmonton elections this past fall hijacked by the issue of closing the City Centre Airport, Edmontonians were confronted by a charged group of activists determined to keep the airport open. And while the group's campaign came in a year too late and didn't follow the Municipal Government Act, the activists were determined to have their voices heard by the candidates for city council.

The recent civic election was also a demonstration of a vocal democratic movment that some would argue has been a success. Just months before the Edmonton Public School Board was due to hit the election circuit, board members voted to close nine schools in Edmonton. The decisions brought out parents from across the city in protest and ultimately resulted in many of the sitting candidates losing their seats.

Edmonton was not the only sign of democratic life. The Wildrose Alliance gained three MLAs, and the Alberta Party defined its organization and is beginning to launch constituency organizations. Two very different parties, but greater opposition in a province of dynasties can only mean democracy in 2011 may have some signs of life. V

NewsRoundup WHO CAN YOU TRUST? psos – Reid continued its poll this year ranking professions Canadians trust. In a surprising jump local municipal politicians ranked at 30 percent as compared to their 14 percent when the poll was conducted in 2003. Trust in journalists rose by one percent, while trust in police dropped by 18 percent. J-source, the Canadian journalism project, speculates the loss in trust could be due to the G20 incidents this past summer. New professionals added to list include environmental activists, union leaders and judges.

I

Soldiers +11%

Doctors -22%

Local politicians +16%

Pharmacists -25%

Car salespeople +10%

National politicans +16%

SAMANTHA POWER // samantha@vueweekly.com

VACATION YEAR

A LIVING WAGE

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s many Canadians return to work this week, the highest paid could take the rest of the year off if they'd like.

As of Monday, January 3 at 2:30 pm the highest paid Canadians have already made an average Canadian's yearly salary. According to the study, "Recession Proof" by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada's 100 best paid CEOs made an average 6.6 million.

In comparison the average wage of a Canadian worker is $42, 988.

The difference wasn't always so drastic. The report points out that in 1998 Canadian CEOs earned 104 times the average Canadian income, as compared to 155 times today, at a time when the Canadian economy is reportedly recovering from a recession. "Even that extraordinary number understates the real story," says CCPA research associate Hugh Mackenzie. "Thanks to a change in corporate reporting introduced in 2008, we only have a conservative statistical estimate of the stock options that make up about one third of CEOs' 2009 pay.

The public will never know how much most of these CEOs actually got paid in 2009. A previous CCPA study by senior economic economist Armine Yalnizyan, reported one third of income growth in the last 20 years has gone to the richest one percent in the country.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

iving wage campaigns have repeatedly popped up across the country, but the movement gained traction as a new bylaw came into effect in the city of New Westminster, BC. Working with ACORN BC the campaign gathered over 1200 signatures in favour of a living wage.

"New Westminster has taken a stand for working families today by setting this powerful precedent," says Dave Tate, chair of New Westminister ACORN. "This gives working people hope that the tide of stagnant wages is receding in Canada and that New Westminster is the first of many cities across the region, province and country to pass a living wage bylaw."

A living wage goes beyond the idea of

a minimum wage by implementing an hourly wage that considers the cost of living, as well as build savings for the future. In New Westminster the living wage will be set to $16.70, double the BC minimum wage.

Here in Alberta, Public Interest Alberta has been advocating for a living wage policy for several years. At $8.80 an hour, the Alberta minimum wage sits at one of the lowest rates in the country and has been frozen since April 2009 when a review of the policy was set in place.

The New Westminister changes have inspired the township of Esquimalet to look at implementing a similar policy.

The city of Vancouver currently lists over 100 businesses that have committed themselves to providing a living wage.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I hope they name Oliver Stone. I'll suggest a candidate ...

Sean Penn or [linguist and philosopher Noam] Chomsky.

We have a lot of friends there. Bill Clinton.”

Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez requesting the next US Ambassador to Venezuela The Guardian Jan 5, 2010

UP FRONT // 5

COMMENT >> MEDIA

A year to innovate

2011 is the year to secure an open Internet In my January 2009 column I asserted more established players. that 2010 would be a pivotal year for Canadians need to understand the value communities working to open commuof online innovation. Innovators in Canada nication in Canada and beyond. And so need to be, well, more innovative. They here we are at the end of the year, and need to reach more people and more efit appears that indeed there is a growing fectively demonstrate the importance of community focused on openness the open accessible Internet. They with the open Internet at its need to be de facto champions core. of openness—just as many of For example, over 22 000 their predecessors have been. people and counting have Canadians will step up to dea .c ia d e cm mocrati e signed the Stop The Mefend the open Internet more d @ e stev ter petition, demonstrating wholeheartedly when its value Steve on is more clearly demonstrated. widespread discontent with Anders big telecom companies who are Online innovators and the comattempting to hogtie competing inmunity that support them need to die Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and capture more audience from big media. make the Internet much more expensive Not only will this chip away at the profits to use. and control wielded by big telecom comWhile the open media community will panies, it will also make it much harder likely continue to gain momentum, I befor these companies to discriminate lieve that in 2011, innovation will take on against the open Internet. an increasingly central role in defining the future of communications, and sociWhat this amounts ety in general.

Here's the situation as I see it. Big Interto is a campaign to net service providers (Bell, Rogers, Shaw, make the Internet Telus, Videotron) plan to make Intermore expensive net access more expensive by imposing and circumscribed usage-based billing (charging per byte).

According to StopUBB.ca, this could cost while providers Internet users $60 more per month startexperiment with ing this year. their "managed" Many of these same providers continue to slow access to innovative online conTV/mobile Internet tent and services. Most recently, Rogers' services. This is customers reported problems accessing pure discrimination content after the company experimented with its traffic-slowing technology. against the open Major Internet service providers are inInternet. The market vesting in and experimenting with a new is being structured more controlled version of the Internet, delivered through TV and mobile deso that either way, vices. the big telecom What this amounts to is a campaign to companies win. They make the Internet more expensive and either successfully circumscribed while providers experiment with their "managed" TV/mobile corral us into their Internet services. This is pure discriminaTV version of the tion against the open Internet. The marInternet, make ket is being structured so that either way, the big telecom companies win. They eithe Internet more ther successfully corral us into their TV expensive and version of the Internet, make the Internet restricted, or both. more expensive and restricted, or both.

What does this have to do with innovation? The main challenge with initiatives designed to preserve and build on the If Canadians en masse are more deeply open Internet is that people take the Inengaged by, and fall in love with, innovaternet for granted. This is where online tive online services and content, they will innovators play an essential role. be better equipped to defend the open Internet when needed. More importantly, Big telecom companies will make deals Canadians will actually notice that Interwith Facebook and other big players so net services provided on TV don't include that you'll find them on your Internet TV. their favourite online services.

However, you might have trouble finding Innovation isn't just an awesome thing the small independent online services to do; it has, and will increasingly conlike those that carry this column or the tinue to play an essential role in ensuring new crowd-sourced journalism project that the revolution unfolding in commuOpenFile, CBC Radio 3 and innovative nication continues. Let's show what we services like Hootsuite. These projects can do with this collaborative tool we and numerous others rely on the open call the Internet. V platform that is the Internet to affordably experiment and reach audiences on Steve Anderson is the national coordinator a level playing field with other larger, of OpenMedia.ca

MEDIA

LINKS

6 // UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

COMMENT >> INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

2010: a year that wasn't

Internationally, the year was more an absence of news Fake elections in Egypt, Burma and Belarus. A massive earthquake in Haiti, devastating floods in Pakistan, and a volcano in Iceland that killed nobody but inconvenienced millions. Something verging on civil war in Thailand, a reviving civil war in Ivory Coast, and a real civil war in Afghanistan (with lots of foreign help). As these things go, not a bad year at all.

There are 192 countries in .com the world—or 202 counweekly e@vue gwynn tries, whatever the number e Gwynn is this week. There are almost Dyer seven billion people. All those countries and all those people will unfailingly supply enough bad news to hold the ads apart all year, every year.

It doesn't mean that the planet is really going to hell. The media will always search out what bad news there is and highlight it.

A broader view of events would report that not one country in the world was invaded in the past year. Not a single one out of 192, or however many it is.

That's not bad, considering our history, and it's not just a fluke. No countries were invaded in 2009 either, or in 2008.

In fact, the last time a country really got invaded was Iraq in 2003. update of the study has brought that date closer.

It is the absence of really big events It is still probably five to 10 years away, (which are generally really bad events) but this was the year when China, the that characterizes the year. No Second biggest of the BRICs, overtook Japan Great Depression, for example (though to become the world's second-largest the essential work on avoiding that was economy. It also overtook the United actually done in 2009). No Great Flu States in 2010 to become the world's Pandemic. No war in the Korean penbiggest producer of cars. For all practiinsula despite the sinking of the South cal purposes, the revolution is no longer Korean frigate Cheonan in March and imminent. It is here.

North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong This is as big an event as the end of Island in November.

Pax Britannica and the rise of the United No American attack on Iran, despite all States, Germany and Japan to greatthe threatening language. No large-scale power status at the end of the 19th cenkilling on the Israeli-Palestinian front, tury. Just last year the G8, the group of though of course no progress towards seven rich Western countries plus Japan, a peace settlement either. No highwas still at least notionally the board casualty terrorist attacks on Western of management of the world economy, countries, though lots in Pakistan, Iraq, while the G20, incorporating the emergIndia and Afghanistan. (Why do attacks ing economies, was a mere courtesy geson Western countries matter more? Beture to the new players. cause they tend to go berserk when they This year, the G20 was where real acare targeted.) tion was, and the preceding G8 meeting No financial meltdown in Europe, was just a regional strategy session bethough both Greece and Ireland have fore the big event. The consequences of been put through the wringer. No rethis historic shift in the world's centre cession at all in the emerging econoof gravity will play out over the years mies of the former Third World, which and the decades to come, but the reality still account for less than 40 percent and irreversibility of the change is now of the world's economy but provided undeniable—even if China's economy, at two-thirds of the world's growth over the moment, is the biggest bubble in the the past year. And maybe that's the real history of the world. news of 2010: this was when the new world order finally became manifest.

Apart from that, what else can we say This revolution has been predicted about 2010 that is in any way meaningsince economist Jim O’Neill at Goldman ful? Lists are traditional at this time of Sachs first grouped the big developing year, but there isn't really much point in countries with fast-growing economies a list that includes an oil spill in the Gulf together as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, of Mexico, a British royal wedding and India, China) in 2001. Subsequent Gold33 trapped Chilean miners. If you must man Sachs studies predicted that their have a list, go online and you'll find huncombined economies would be larger dreds of the things. They all mean virtuthan the combined economies of toally nothing. day's rich countries by 2050, and every And then there's predicting the future.

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The year-ender format always includes some predictions about the future, but the real future is full of surprises. Just consider what a reasonable person would have predicted, on the available evidence, in the last couple of years that ended with “10."

In 1810, all the European empires had been at war for more than 15 years, with fighting in every continent. In the next five years, Napoleon would invade Russia and lose an army of half a million men, Britain and the United States would fight a war that included the burning of Washington and Toronto, and after Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815 the old absolute monarchies would come back all over Europe.

So who would have predicted in 1810 that after a few more bad years Europe would enjoy a full century of almost uninterrupted peace and soaring prosperity, or that democracy would spread to most of the big European countries?

Nobody.

Same with 1910. It was very near the end of the Long Peace by then, but nobody knew that at the time. The First World War would shatter the old world in only four years' time, the Second World War would come only a quartercentury later, and by the end of the 20th century the European empires would all be ancient history. Nobody foresaw it.

Nobody could.

And the future? Who knows? One could seize the opportunity to bang on about the world's failure to address the threat of radical climate change, but this year's failure is not worse than last year's, nor in all probability than next year's. V

1/4/11

4:35 PM

Page 1

1965 BLACK BEAUTY • Good condition minus some bullet holes.

• Grill-Mounted M2 Flamethrower.

• Dual Hood-Mounted .30 Cal M1919 Machine Guns.

• 12 Front & Rear FIM-92A Stinger Missiles.

• Two ejector seats.

• 500 horsepower, unlimited firepower.

VIOLENCE, COARSE LANGUAGE

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based journalist. His column appears every week in Vue Weekly.

MST00015_SONY_GRN.0106.VUE · EDMONTON VUE · 1/4 PAGE · THUR JAN. 06

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

UP FRONT // 7

BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER

COMMENT >> HOCKEY

Be brave

Recounting a bad week in Oil country Profiles in Hockey Courage. December better on the injury front than they had 30, 2010. The Edmonton Oilers, down in previous years and what happens?

3-0 to the Colorado Avalanche and facJordan Eberle goes down with an ankle ing a blowout to end the calendar year, sprain. So I have only this to say; there's rally back and tie the game up. Howno way Hall wins the Calder Trophy this ever, all three Oiler shootout attempts year and Khabibulin the Vezina. Absofail and the Avs win in the shootout. lutely no way. BB January 1, 2011. The Oilers entertain their southern rivals from Calgary.

Ice Part Deux Despite a whopping 17 shots on net all Speaking about bad ice, I actually took a game (Calgary had 19 in the first period pass on watching the Penguins/Capitals alone), the Oilers lose 2-1 (yes, that is outdoor extravaganza on New Year's sarcasm). January 4, 2011. Detroit, arDay. Checking out the highlights later, I guably the best team in hockey for didn't miss much. The ice was sloppy about the past 20 years, visits and the game was esthetically Edmonton. A 3-1 deficit beappealing (it really is cool to comes a 3-3 tie only to desee the crowd and the game volve into a 5-3 loss. Aren't outside) but really boring to ly.com watch. These outdoor games Oiler fans brave, for endureweek u v @ x o intheb ing this painful crap? are incredible spectacles, oung & Dave Y but not really great games. irtles B n a y Br Ice. Ice. Baby.

I was lucky enough to witness Hockey is a fast-paced and risky Edmonton's inaugural Heritage game. Oiler players risk injury every Classic. Mind you, our Edmonton event time they step on the ice. Here are was memorable partly because it was some relatively "acceptable" causes of groundbreaking but mostly because the injury: dynasty-era Oilers like Gretzky, Messier, 1) Groin or muscle pulls from skating Lowe and Kurri reunited for the event. too hard.

The NHL game itself was the least com2) Breaking your hand on a Calgary pelling piece of the puzzle. DY Flame.

3) Robyn Regehr.

Missing Horcoff Here's a cause of injury we should not Though the recent call ups have made be seeing in Edmonton: a few spectacular moves that give Oil1) Bad ice. er fans hope for the future, nobody has Oiler standout Ryan Whitney is now in come close to replacing Horcoff. Long street clothes for a couple of months— considered a goat for what many see minimum—after losing control on a rut as an inflated contract, Horcoff is arguor uneven patch of Rexall ice. While we ably the most solid two-way player on can't string up the rink crew for every our team. In addition to being a calmpock-mark and imperfection on a skating and motivating presence in the ing surface that used to be considered room, Horcoff is there to ensure that the NHL's best, this is not the way fans face-offs get won and that someone is want to lose a top player. The deterioalways back to cover for the high flying rating ice surface has been blamed on kids, and his solid play on both ends of an aging ice plant, conveniently givthe ice is dearly missed by this team ing Rexall Sports yet another piece of that just can't seem to keep it together blackmail to upgrade to the new rink. for a full 60 minutes. Here's hoping Make the deal, City of Edmonton, or that he heals up quickly. BB more Whitneys will fall. DY

IN THE

BOX

Oiler Player of the Week

Stop, just stop

I keep writing things here and the opposite keeps coming true, so maybe it's time for me to just shut up a bit. For example, I wrote on December 23 that I thought it was possible the Oilers could make the playoffs and what happens?

Big losing skid, very likely putting them out of contention. Then I wrote just last week that the Oilers were doing a lot

8 // UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Jim Vandermeer: because my five-yearold daughter looked at the Oiler roster and chose him "because he looks good."

Good enough for me. I didn't have the heart to tell her he's been out since December 12. DY JF Jacques: The "A" really upped Dustin Penner's game: maybe being player of the week will up Jacques'. He could really use it. BB

SNOW ZONE A year in review

FEB

APR AUG

Living through sport JAN

SEP

DEC

JUL

MAR

JUN

OCT

NOV

// Pete Nguyen

Jeremy Derksen // jeremy@vueweekly.com

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dmonton sports history has largely been defined by the victors, even more so than other cities. This is, after all, the City of Champions. But in a province of approximately 3.6 million, how do we decide which of the hundreds of thousands of sporting events—team or individual, organized or independent, professional or amateur—in a given year are historically significant?

It's a delicate question that has preoccupied provincial historians at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame for over 50 years. Collaborators at the Hall, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge are currently working to trace the origins of every single sport in Alberta.

"The way we look at it is ... how it got started, who started it, how it's evolved and where it is today," says Debbie Brigley, coordinator at the Hall of Fame,

"and to continue to keep that information so that each generation after that has still more information."

A gargantuan task—made more difficult by the fact that new history is being made each day. "There's so many sports, it's endless," says Brigley. "There's no way they can do it all."

Perhaps even more impossible is determining which recent events will have historical impact years on. Often, those obligatory year-end retrospectives from sports-media pundits have little relevance outside the narrow confines of their given sport. For instance, 20 years from now, the fact that the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010 will be of little if any importance to most of us.

That's no reason not to try, though.

While each of us might prioritize historic events differently, Brigley believes sports are important to all our lives because of their ability to transcend cultural barriers, foster international

relations and inspire younger generations to pursue their dreams. "It's our culture to make sure people are healthy, happy and socialized, and that's what I think sport does for us. It's of huge importance to our lives."

In this light, professional sports take no precedence over local, amateur sporting events. Participation, over spectatorship, becomes a greater consideration. And though organized sports such as soccer and hockey may command greater numbers, adventure sports can be as or more relevant for their influence on how we interact with nature, engage in physical risk and strive to live healthy, connected lives.

Instead of dwelling on superstar athletes and rich contracts, the focus here is on the moments that change how we live through sport.

The year 2010 was christened in fire.

It travelled with the velocity of a class 2 avalanche, setting off multiple trig-

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

gers along the way. In its wake, new trends were formed or took root that will have significant influence on Edmontonians as we embark on a new decade of sporting adventure.

While it's already been discussed ad nauseum, it would be remiss not to

Like Stanley Cups, medal counts weren't the real story here. From February 12 – 28, the Games inspired national and international dialogue. The "Own The Podium" program spurred valid debates about athletic funding programs and national ambition.

The year 2010 was christened in fire. It travelled with the velocity of a class 2 avalanche, setting off multiple triggers along the way. mention the single biggest event in Western Canada in 2010. The Olympic torch had already passed the halfway mark of its journey on January 1. Along the way, its flame lit imaginations across Western Canada and the world, travelling over prairies, mountains and coast and connecting our communities—whether in a spirit of unity, or protest and criticism.

Bilodeau's gold medal gave us license to aspire to greatness. Other countries harbour the same ambitions we do and to believe otherwise would be naive. Yet it is not winning at all costs, but winning fairly that matters. In 2010, we cemented the foundations of a healthy winning tradition, especially in Alberta.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 >>

SNOW ZONE // 9

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

LIVING THROUGH SPORT << CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

With two centres for winter sport excellence in the west—Calgary and Vancouver—the infrastructure and venues are in place to support high-level training.

Whether the funding will keep up with maintenance and athletic training needs is another question.

The glow was barely off that national celebration when tragedy struck the mountains of Western Canada. That class 2 slide referred to earlier was the March 13 Boulder Mountain incident in Revelstoke in which 31 people were injured and two died.

Boulder was far from the first snowmobile tragedy in recent years. But participants' evident disregard for avalanche safety erased any remaining ambiguity about the state of sledding safety practices (or lack thereof) and strengthened the Canadian Avalanche Association's resolve to increase avalanche awareness and education among the growing sled community.

Two years ago, the CAA struggled to find funders in the snowmobile industry. Today, sledding associations are partnering with the CAA on new initiatives designed to reach their members in greater numbers. Twenty years from now, 2010 will be looked back on as the year the tide turned and a major backcountry user group finally got the message. Hopefully, the mountains will be a safer place because of it.

A major regional trend in 2010 was the maturation of adventure sport. The Canadian Death Race marked its 10th anniversary on the August long weekend. Be-

tween May and October, the local 5 Peaks Northern Alberta trail running series attracted record numbers, Race the Rockies celebrated its fifth season of adventure racing in our city, and upstart local bike race organizers Alberta MTB Racing coordinated hosting for the second annual Canada Cup mountain bike race in the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

City policy on sports hosting also came to the fore in the fall, with municipal elections and debate about the Edmonton Indy. While the race may be going ahead, general apathy toward the event and the nebulous benefits it promises will hopefully give councillors pause to consider other ways to invest in our city, such as environmental preservation, supporting local sport bodies and facilities and promoting active tourism and lifestyles. Sport has an important part to play in enriching our city, but we are still in the process of determining exactly how.

Perhaps a final milestone for 2010 can shed some light on the matter—the Edmonton Ski Club's 100th anniversary.

Here is a sports venue that has become an Edmonton institution. The historical value it brings to the city is immense, including the cultural links to our early history and the world-class ski jump that once adorned its slope. But far from just ancient history, the Edmonton Ski Club remains a venue that nurtures family participation, youthful dreams worldclass talent—like Olympian Jenn Heil, who got her start at the club when she was two years old.

By bookending a big year in regional sport, the Edmonton Ski Club's 100th

will hopefully stand as a counterpoint to those bland, ubiquitous retrospectives that over-emphasize dollars over ideals.

History is shaped daily, through individual action, acts of nature, collective will and social agenda. One hundred years down the road, do we want to celebrate another century of community ambition, art and adventure—or, money losing, exhaust-spewing, butt-creasing pro sport spectacles?

One way the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame is challenging current perspectives on sport is through its educational program "Beyond the Classroom." The school program raises the question of how sports evolve and why, and what role they play in shaping our culture.

"We show the kids a hockey stick from 80 years ago and one today, and ask them, why did it change? What's it going to be like [in 100 years]? " Brigley explains. "That really is history playing a part in the future."

Looking back on 2010, we have much to be proud of, but also much to improve on. This is a young decade and our choices will determine the path we follow and what we leave behind for posterity. The onus is on us. V

ON THE WEB albertasportshalloffame.com vancouver2010.com avalanche.ca canadiandeathrace.com 5peaks.com racetherockies.com edmontonskiclub.com

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

SNOW ZONE // 11

FALLLINES New stair rail park at Whistler

Our local hills plant a number of rails and boxes, mountain resorts create vast projects including c-rails, gap jumps, big air, walls and logs just to name a few, but at Whistler, there is no end to their imagination and budget. Recently they installed a stair rail park, a feature that until now has only been seen in an urban setting, not a mountain resort snowboard park. Featuring a set of 15 double-wide stairs framed by two rails and a wider double rail in the centre, this is going to be one heck of a playground for local boarders and skiers. Fabrication took place at the Arena Snowparks fabrication shop in Pemberton BC. This company has been building snow park features for several years including a number of contracts for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Now they're taking snowboard park feature fabrication to another level, including these stairs and a modular box system that can be changed daily or weekly depending on the conditions and rider variability. If you want to see the stairs being put to good use, just Google "Telus Whistler Stair Rail Park" and enjoy.

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

HART GOLBECK // HART@vueweekly.com

Mountaineer your way at Sunshine Village

The annual MEC Sunshine 5000 Mountaineering competition will be contested on the slopes of Sunshine Village on February 5 – 6. If you have never seen a competition like this it is definitely worth a look, and better yet, you can try it out yourself by taking on the "Citizens" course. Mountaineering is a combination of skiing downhill and climbing vertical sections so that you can ski downhill again. It's a gruelling event and only the fit survive. This year the main course features a minimum 1400-metre vertical climb, some of which can be performed with skins on your skis, but there is a bootpacking session or two as well—for example, I don't see anyone going up the back of Delirium Dive without taking off their skis and hiking a rock or two. If that isn't punishment enough, you must carry a pack stocked with mandatory supplies including a shovel, probe, clothes and much more. For the winners there is some cash, and cool prizes await all competitors. As mentioned above, there is a much less gruelling course for those of you just trying to get a feel for the event. In this case you would only be going uphill for 700 metres or so. If you're interested, check out the Alpine Club of Canada website for all of the maps, rules and regulations. (alpineclubofcanada.ca)

Deep Freeze Byzantine Winter Festival

This weekend Alberta Ave, one of Edmonton's most historic neighbourhoods, will be ringing in the Olde New Year in Byzantine style by celebrating winter's best outdoor activities: skating, curling, snow carving, street hockey and even an outdoor mummers' play. The centre for these activities will take place at 9920 - 118 Ave, but there are several venues nearby that will host much of the action. It may be a little late to come up with a troupe for a mummers' play, but you probably could put a hockey team together or just stroll the Artisan Market and listen to some good folk performances. Best bet is to check out the program on the web at artsontheave.org and plan your weekend to have some fun. V

DISH

Bison and bannock

Aboriginal cuisine making its mark on the Canadian food scene Mike Angus // mikeangus@vueweekly.com

O

f the many successes at Vancouver's heady Olympics last winter, one that some Canadians are taking particular note of is the excitement surrounding the emerging popularity of Aboriginal cuisine.

The 2010 Aboriginal Pavilion, hosted by the Four Host First Nations Society, was a showcase of First Nations, Inuit and Métis culture throughout the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and its culinary offerings have created such a buzz that native-influenced restaurants are poised to become the next big thing in Vancouver's discerning food scene.

Here in Edmonton, you'd be a little more hard-pressed to find restaurants touting bannock and bison burgers. The Home Fire Grill on the West End is the clearest example, with a smattering of other independent restaurants looking to diversify their menus away from local beef.

While eating local and the novelty of bison are welcome, sensible and healthy trends in Edmonton's growing foodie culture, we'd be foolish to call the emergence of Aboriginal cuisine a "trend"; going back 5000 years, traditional, native cuisine is enjoying its most recent renaissance thanks to its health benefits, its built-in local food mandate and the Aboriginal community's powerful sense of self-awareness and pride.

Chef Andrew George is a culinary instructor at Kla-how-eya Aboriginal Centre of the Surrey Aboriginal Cultural Society in British Columbia and has been advancing native cuisine for over 20 years. He's co-authored a cookbook called Feast!: Canadian Native Cuisine for all Seasons, and from his days as one of only two Aboriginal students to enroll in Vancouver Community College's culinary program almost 30 years ago, he offers some insight into Aboriginal cuisine's rise since.

"In 1992 there was an Aboriginal team that participated in the World Culinary Olympics—the first ever in the competition—and I was part of that team," he explains. "Since we returned with medals, we've been on a promotional tour across Canada promoting the trade of cooking, and trying to get more Aboriginal people involved in the trade of cooking."

A quick flip through Feast! reveals not only a mouth-watering selection of unique recipes (Pacific salmon and Atlantic fiddlehead stir-fry, baked sweet potato with roasted hazelnuts, and stuffed wild goose with apples, to name a few), but also fascinating history and background sections explaining traditions like the potlatch, how men often took on cooking responsibilities, and the use of feasting skills to impress other tribes.

// Chelsea Boos

One of the biggest reasons for Aboriginal cuisine's rise in popularity, however, is bison. Paul Kolesar owns KickinAsh Buffalo Meat Products in St Albert, and over the last decade he's seen the demand for bison grow exponentially.

The reason?

"It's the greatest meat for your health," he says. "Naturally, it's a leaner meat that's higher in protein and iron." All animals are raised at their own ranch in Athabasca with no antibiotics or hormones. And you're not just limited to burgers; you can get all cuts, from steaks, roasts and ribs to whole sides.

Bruce Wells is the chef at Home Fire Grill and orders all his bison cuts from Kickin-Ash. He came to Home Fire two years ago and has enjoyed the challenges of cooking creatively with bison. "We buy the whole animal, which gives us a lot of opportunity," he explains. "We have the whole animal to work from, which gives my staff so many ideas. It's nice to have that variety to work with."

Home Fire Grill currently offers bannock, bison burgers, bison meatloaf and

a bison cut of the day, and Wells is looking to work with more wild game like duck, lamb and elk. "I came to Home Fire after a 20-year career [cooking] Cajun cuisine, but if you know anything about Cajun cooking, there's a lot of wild game involved," Wells notes with a laugh. "[The crossover to Aboriginal cuisine] has been phenomenal. You're always learning something new when you're cooking with new game. It's an absolute challenge, trying to come up with something unique, outside the realm of what everyone else is doing."

While native cuisine might seem like an up-and-coming trend, it would be absurd to call it so; given that traditional native diets go back thousands of years, we have to look deeper at why it's only emerging now as a recognized food style indigenous to Canada.

One reason is the awareness raised by true "trends" like the 100-mile diet and local-food movements. In the past decade, Canadians have taken long, hard looks at the way they've been

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

eating, and are opting for arm's reach freshness over international produce.

In the momentum of this shift towards local food, Aboriginal cuisine seems like an overlooked—but nonetheless obvious—option. After all, if you're going to consider the 100-mile diet, who better to observe than a people who lived off the land before the introduction of Florida oranges and the 3000-mile caesar salad?

"I don't want to say it's a trend, because that would be an awful thing to say for something that's been around for so long," Wells points out. And take a look at his menu: handmade bison patties served with smoked bacon and saskatoon berry relish. During the Olympics, chef Andrew George served up "bannockwiches" (originally called 'bison burgers' until McDonalds—the official sponsor of the Olympics—took issue with him using the word "burger" and pressured him to stop)—bison patties with sautéed wild mushrooms and Saltspring Island goat cheese between bannock rounds. His other menus in-

clude smoked salmon on bannock, a turkey club with chokecherry jelly, and salmon chowder.

While he sees some merit in the connection to local food, George sees native cuisine's popularity stemming from its natural advantages. "What's unique is that it's a natural product, which is different from organic. Our game is fed natural stuff in its natural state; the herbs and berries that we pick are in their natural state, there's no herbicides, pesticides or any of that stuff that assist in growing the product out.

"Basically what we're doing in modernizing our cuisine," he explains. "If you look at how we traditionally did our things, it was mostly dried, preserved for the long winters. So what we're doing is looking at our traditional products, how we traditionally preserved them and traditionally harvested them, and moving into a modern form.

"That's where we're going with this.

Hopefully one day Aboriginal cuisine will be recognized as any other international cuisine that's out there." V

DISH // 13

BEER

A year in beer

A look back at 2010 through beer goggles As we prepare to toss our 2010 wall calendars into the recycling bin and pin up a fresh 2011 edition, I find myself reflecting on the year that was in the Edmonton beer scene. It was a very strong year that leaves me feeling bullish about Edmonton's beer culture. I truly think something is turning in our town and Edmontonians are opening up to beer in a way they never have before.

So allow me to offer my top five highlights from the beer year that was.

5) Some of the World's Best Beer at our Doorstep

Japan and Denmark.

Edmonton is blessed with the best beer 4) Beer and Food Together Again selection in Canada, due to Alberta's This was the year that restaurants open listing policy and the obsesstarted figuring out that beer can be sive-compulsive tendencies of paired with food in exactly the Sherbrooke Liquor Store. But same way wine can. In many in 2010 things exploded. The respects the Sugar Bowl led past year saw a dizzying the way by offering Edmonm ly.co number of the best beers ton's most extensive beer eweek u v t@ in tothep in the world enter our city. list and daring its customJason Month after month I found ers to find good pairings for r e Fost myself standing agape at the its quietly impressive and creprospect of finally sampling a ative dishes. But we also saw the beer that had long been on my "must emergence of the "beer dinner"â&#x20AC;&#x201D;old have" list. Highlights include: selechat elsewhere but new to these parts. tions from gypsy brewer Mikkeller, The biggest was the evening with Pike the classic Anchor Porter, the world's Brewing's Charles Finkel at the Manor oldest wheat beer Weihenstephaner, Bistro. I look forward to more in 2011. the heavenly Red Racer IPA, plus great beer from unexpected origins, including 3) Celebrating 15 Years of Craft

TO TH

E

PINT

Brewing

Edmonton's oldest microbrewery, Alley Kat, turned 15 years old in 2010. The brewery celebrated by releasing five one-batch-only seasonals under a special label. The beers were creative, playful and without question a beer highlight. They made us a smoked porter, an apple wit, a Belgian tripel, a ginger beer and a black IPA. All were delicious, but my favourites were the tripel, the black IPA and, surprisingly for me, the ginger beer.

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; JAN 12, 2011

/ Bryan Birtles

A (very) small selection of the beer at Sherbrooke Liquor

2) The Arrival of Cantillon

This properly should fit into number five, but I can't help myself. 2010 marked the arrival of a beer that is an obsession for me. Cantillon makes the world's best lambic beer—a challenging, tart beer that takes three years to make but can last decades in your cellar—and this year 10 of its beers hit Edmonton store shelves. The 750 ml bottles aren't cheap at $25 – $30, but are well worth the investment. I nearly took out a small loan to procure some for myself. It is not a beer for everyone, but it is a rare day when an Edmontonian can sample one of the world's most revered beers. And this year I got to. (And good news for you, it is still available.)

1) The Birth of Cask Ale Events

My number one highlight of the past year was the birth of cask-ale nights in town. I am particularly proud of this, as I played a central role in midwifing them into existence. Cask ales are regular

beer packaged differently—it carbonates in the cask and is usually infused with more hops or unique spices. The resulting beer is softer, more flavourful and more volatile than its regular brethren. Cask events are anchors of any vibrant beer culture. The trend started in late summer at the Sugar Bowl, which now does monthly casks (every third Thursday at 5 pm) of Alley Kat creations. But the Next Act off Whyte has recently added its own monthly cask event (first Tuesday at 6 pm). From zero to two in less than eight months, and there are rumours of others. I am thrilled. Maybe 2011 will witness our first regular cask ale tap line, like the most mature beer cities do.

So there you have it, a year in beer.

May 2011 bring you even more great things in beer. V Jason Foster is the creator of onbeer.org, a website devoted to news and views on beer from the prairies and beyond.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

DISH // 15

Going solo

Being your own best companion at the Midnight Sun

The tropical facade of Midnight Sun beckons

/ Bryan Birtles

LS Vors // vors@vueweekly.com

D

ining is an inherently social activity. The food at a social gathering becomes a vehicle for conversation and a meal shared with family and friends demonstrates and strengthens interpersonal bonds. Yet, we all dine alone at some point in time and reasons are as varied as there are diners: solo travel, heartache, scheduling mix-ups, rushing between meetings and so forth. Reasons for dining alone, however, are not always tinged with negativity. A table for one can be an oasis in a hectic schedule and an opportunity to decompress and reconnect with one's thoughts. On one moonlit evening, my own quest for insular solitude led me to Midnight Sun Vietnamese and Chinese Cuisine.

Midnight Sun is a taupe and brown room that occupies a small strip mall on 124 Street, midway between the gentrified downtown arts district and the urban grit of 118 Avenue. The room is sparely decorated with framed prints of greenery. Artificial lotus flowers, a miniature orange tree and a smiling ceramic Buddha gaze benevolently from a glass cabinet above the cash register.

It is late, well after 8 pm, and the supper crowd is long gone. Their absence allows me a leisurely meander through Midnight Sun's lengthy menu, which includes Chinese-Canadian standards such as chow mein and ginger beef.

A considerable section is devoted to Vietnamese dishes, their names and descriptions exotic and alluring. I select Vietnamese hot and spicy shrimp

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

($10.75) and satay beef noodles ($8.95) as mains. Deferring to the Chinese side of the menu, I opt for green onion cakes ($4.95) as a starter.

The restaurant is mine for the duration of my dinner, and the pointed absence of other diners' conversations permits an auditory foray into Midnight Sun's kitchen. A Chinese movie emanates softly from a television; wistful piano music and pleading voices belie a scene of heavy drama. The hollow knock of a knife on a chopping block bespeaks fresh vegetables, and the sudden crackle of a deep fryer heightens anticipation of tender-crisp noodles and golden orbs of onion and flour.

Green onion cakes, served in pairs, are arranged like the petals of a golden brown flower around two bowls of dipping sauce. The cakes' exterior is crisp, shattering at a fork's touch, while the interior is tender and laced with aromatic flecks of green onion.

The dipping sauces—sweet hoisin and devilish red chili—are slightly onedimensional when used alone. Together, though, they caress and imbue each triangle of onion cake with fierce, sweet fire.

Hot and spicy shrimp presents entire shrimp lightly battered and deep-fried.

The shrimp are beheaded but their shells and legs are intact. Esthetically, it is a bit disconcerting, though frying renders the shells crunchy and edible.

The meat within the shells is ample, but a heavy hit of red and green chilies quickly replaces the shrimps' demure sweetness with a prolonged and nearly painful afterburn. Stalwartly, I devour

several until the incendiary heat forces my surrender.

Satay beef noodles better balance roaring spices with meat and veg.

Slices of orange carrot and red pepper add colour to a uniformly glossy brown sauce that bathes a sizeable mound of thin vermicelli noodles. Here, tender slices of beef are complemented, rather than overpowered, by fire and spice.

The noodles, which are crisp on the ends and tender in the middle, are amenable to the abundant sauce but would be better balanced by a heightened presence of beef, carrots and peppers.

My solo supper concludes and the absence of other diners has permitted a lengthy and most enjoyable inner monologue. Dining alone has many advantages. One's mind may wander freely without the pressure to sustain conversation in a group setting. Stock may be taken of life between quiet bites of food. More intricate details are noticed about the meal; details that would otherwise be overlooked if focus could not be sustained. At Midnight Sun I perceived strength in simple things, like green onion cakes, but also noticed the propensity for overpowering heat in more complex dishes. Still, it was a quiet, relaxing and introspective evening. Pity not the one who dines alone. V Mon – Thu (11 AM – 10 PM); FRI & SAT (11 AM – 11 PM); Sun (3 PM – 10 PM) Midnight Sun Vietnamese and Chinese Cuisine 11003 - 124 St 780.452.2282

ARTS

THEATRE // PREVUE

Tour of duty

The three-part war epic Spiral Dive finally takes to the main stage

Spiral Dive's flying ace Paul Blinov // paul@vueweekly.com

T

he original draft of Spiral Dive is, presently and forever, at the bottom of the ocean blue. It was a novel Kenneth Brown began writing in the late '80s, and took on a fateful boating voyage in the '90s in an attempt to finish off.

"After five weeks, I'd been working away, I was caught in an unforecast gale, and the boat went down along

with all my discs," Brown recalls, "And I was so shocked, and so depressed about that, that I didn't get back to Spiral Dive for a long time."

When he did eventually come back to the story, of the wartime trials and tribulations faced by a Canadian boy turned Spitfire pilot in the Second World War, it was through working on a collective creation theatre project with the Ribbit theatre company.

Entitled "Water," Brown slipped in a

short scene from Spiral Dive, and seeing it come alive on the stage revived his desire to revisit the material, but as a trilogy of plays rather than a novel.

"I think the advantage of doing the piece as a theatre piece as opposed to a piece of prose is that I've really enjoyed compressing the story into a kind of concrete poetry about flying," Brown explains. "Because for me, the really important part of Spiral Dive is its mythological core; I'm not interested in

making a Canadian historic moment onstage, but I am very interested in telling the uniquely Canadian story, because we have received so much of our wartime quasi-information or mythology from the American mythology. Even when it doesn't come from there, it comes from British mythology, neither of which acknowledge in any way, shape or form what Canadians were going through."

Although mythology and an epic story arc "from innocence to experience" was more his focus than a strict history lesson, Brown's research was meticulous.

He took flying lessons (and learned to execute an actual spiral dive), alongside copious amounts of reading and interviews. The resulting three-part epic, each episode brought to the Fringe circuit yearly, has received almost universal praise, at home (where it's been nominated for eight Sterlings and won one), and abroad, where critics handed out five-star reviews like hard-fought medals of honour.

Workshop West's upcoming presentation marks the trilogy's first mainstage showing, and also the first chance for audiences to take in the entire series, either in parts—the episode schedule is staggered throughout the run—or, for the more theatrically inclined, in one marathon run, happening on both Sundays wherein Part One, Two and Three will be shown in spitfire succession (they'll be feeding audiences in between parts two and three, with meals from La Persaud, a brand new bistro that shares the La Cité building).

While Second World War stories aren't exactly uncommon, even decades on and with multiple wars in between, the scale and damage of the Second World War still seems to intrigue us in

new ways.

That so much is still left unsaid by those veterans who fought might have something to with it. Brown notes that the effects the Second World War had on his father's generation were obvious, and for him, close to home—his father's best friend and his uncle were both pilots—yet they very rarely spoke of the war itself, a not uncommon story with veterans of the war.

"My uncle, who was a much-decorated pilot, drank a bottle of whisky a day until he died at the age of 87," he says " It's not that he was a mean drunk; he was a wonderful person. But after the war, he never got over that. He dealt with his war wounds that way. And that was true of a lot of guys.

"In Spiral, I wanted to tell a little harder-edged story than we are used to hearing about the war. We’re used to hearing about heroism, and certainly, there was heroism. But there was also huge consequences, for our nation and for our parents, for our grandparents. And in a sense, that’s why I wanted to tell this story: having grown up, watching those people still trying to get over it for the rest of their lives, I kind of wanted to dig into that story, and tell a different version of it." V Thu, Jan 6 – Sun, Jan 23 (7:30 pm) Marathon runs Sun, Jan 9 & Sun, jan 23 (2 pm) Spiral Dive Trilogy Written & Directed by Kenneth Brown Starring Blake William Turner, Caley Suliak, Bryan D Webb, Jeremy Baumung La Cité Francophone theatre (8627 - 91 St), $20 – $25 per episode, $50 – $60 marathon For episode schedule go to WORKSHOPWEST.ORG

VISUAL ARTS // REVUE

Deepening the Domestic A pair of graduate shows explore the familiar Carolyn Jervis // carolynjervis@vueweekly.com

A

nna House's graduate show, Dialogue of the Domestic, is evidence of an artist who gains inspiration from her life experience to create her work. Using her technical skills as a painter and chef, House explores private feminized domestic space by harnessing personal stories of marriage and motherhood.

House's apron installation sets the stage for her paintings, which allow for rumination on what's freeing, satisfying, healing or constricting about domestic spaces and roles.

The aprons that line the wall form a

colour spectrum, and although the shift from colour to colour is a gentle one in these pastels of green and orange and pink, the stories piped into the space of women's relationships with their aprons make you look more carefully at their differences.

Stories of isolation and other memories are embedded in this significant domestic uniform. This conveys domesticity itself as a spectrum that is experienced as uniquely as each of the aprons on the wall.

What really shines through in House's paintings is the care taken in rendering women at work or at rest in their homes. A canvas paired with each female figure features a signifi-

cant object or pattern material that seems to define the culture of the particular life. The thoughtfully placed brushstrokes, the careful renderings of women, are made all the more powerful with the inclusion of embroidery on top of painted pattern elements in fabrics or on familiar domestic objects. These quiet, understated images speak to the invisible care that is put into creating an inviting home or nourishing meal. The paintings are a quiet tribute to the feminized domestic spaces, and the women behind these places of refuge.

The final work in House's exhibition is a stunning installation—a dining room created out of icing and fon-

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

dant. From the delicate flower pattern on the wall, to the moulding, the light fixture, and all of the table settings, the whole room and its contents are covered in a meticulously applied, sweet white layer. The labour House must have put into the fine details to create this exquisite domestic scene act as a reminder that these private spaces of care and nourishment are so often painstakingly made by women.

The second floor of the gallery contains the graduate exhibition, poem for a homebody, by Lindsay Knox. While Knox's conceptual curiosities are very interesting with a theme of rendering the familiar strange, I was left feeling as though I was looking at work not quite ready to become a cohesive exhibition. It seems like the intention was to have the art objects read in concert to create a space in which the viewer can explore Knox's pro-

vocative ideas. However, that sense of being a unique, odd space was lost on me. The strength in this show is the objects that do hold their own.

The artist's red three-dimensional wall piece—an abstract vulva made of many layers of felt and a partially opened door—is really where Knox's vision connects with her art objects.

This and the soft, four foot cube that looks like a surrealist incubator, complete with a window and soft inside thanks to an endometrial layer constructed of what looks like the stuffed fingers of surgical gloves, are definitely worth a look. V Until sat, Jan 15 Dialogue of the Domestic Works by Anna House poem for a homebody works by Lindsay Knox FAb Gallery (89 Ave & 112 St)

ARTS // 17

BOOKS // REVUE

Reading with your gut The year's finest pageturners Michael Hingston // michaelhingston@vueweekly.com

I

didn't read Freedom. A Visit from the Goon Squad was never on my radar.

There wasn't enough time for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Ditto for The Imperfectionists. Room just sounded unpleasant.

What follows is my tally of my favourite books of the year. And as much as I love these titles, it's invariably the omissions—those listed above, among hundreds of others—that tend to have a bigger influence on these year-end lists, at least when it comes to literature.

It's still possible for an ambitious film reviewer to see every noteworthy film released in a given year. The same goes, at least conceivably, for music.

Not so with books. Here you have to think with your gut—there's simply no time to read whatever lands on your desk. While I do my best to search out books beyond what the hype machines keep throwing at us, in the end I'm still, for better or worse, a product of my own inscrutable intuition.

So, in alphabetical order, here's what came out on top for me in 2010.

1) Philip Hoare, The Whale (Ecco)

The case for whales being anointed World's Coolest Animals has been made many times, but never in quite such a discursive and frothily British manner as Philip Hoare manages here. What begins as a vague travelogue quickly turns into a powerful meditation on all aspects of these massive, mysterious cetaceans, from the telekinetic power of their whale song to their recurring influence on our culture—and ending on the most astonishing note of all, when Hoare goes scuba-diving in the Atlantic and comes eye to eye with a real-life sperm whale.

2) A.L. Kennedy, What Becomes (House of Anansi) The characters in this Scottish spitfire's newest story collection are plagued by things departed: lovers, dream jobs, and, in the amputee story "As God Made Us," entire limbs. They listen for footsteps in other rooms that never arrive. More than once they distractedly cut themselves with kitchen knives.

What unites them is Kennedy's kinetic language, her talent for concision and understatement, and her unflagging empathy for the worlds she conjures, no matter how sordid. If nothing else,

these men and women can take solace in the fact that their creator is there suffering right alongside them.

3) Ryan Knighton, C'mon Papa (Knopf) Knighton's second memoir about blindness, this one devoted to his new life as a parent, hits all of the sweet buttons and none of the saccharine ones.

The witty Vancouver professor takes what could, in the wrong hands, be a narrative gimmick and recasts it a surprisingly obvious and humbling truth: all parents start out blind. The true test is how you learn to "read" your child as she develops, using whatever senses you have at your disposal—well, that, and not losing her in a snowbank. In both cases Knighton leads by example.

4) Miguel Syjuco, Ilustrado (Hamish Hamilton) This exuberant, postmodern puzzle box of a novel, the first by Montréalvia-Manila's Syjuco, garnered a lot of attention when it was first released back in May, but hasn't really been mentioned since. What a shame.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39 >>

COMMENT >> VISUAL ARTS

New Year's Revelations Resolutions for Edmonton's art scene

Last year around this time, I wrote a list of things I genuinely demons to battle, I am pleased to report that in 2011 I will wanted to see and feel for this city. From better public be taking a six-month sabbatical from Canada in the form art to less disappointment in the festival system, my of a Arts Writing and Curatorial Fellowship in Scotland. wish list was not unreasonable, and therefore some(Please note: this column will soon be going on an inwhat manageable to achieve, at least in part. definite hiatus). m ekly.co I also wrote a short list of goals for myself.

Believing in the power of putting your desires out vuewe amy@ Scrawled on a paper napkin after a midday New there, here we go again for 2011: another list of things y Am Year's Day brunch, the goals I set for myself included I would genuinely like to see or wish for this city's visual Fung arts community in this coming year. In no particular order living healthier and applying for more international opportunities. And while the former goal has its fair share of of importance:

IE PRASITRERS

ART

10) More online exhibitions and art projects.

9) Artists who can give as much as they can take.

8) More arts writing from new voices. In print, online, to accompany exhibitions, to outcry against exhibitions, let's keep the words flowing.

7) For politicians on every level of government to stop hating or fearing the arts. Especially in regards to the politicians with arts and culture in their portfolio.

6) Raising the standards and expectations of our city's university galleries. Now that we have two universities offering BFAs—and intriguingly, both with very different approaches—each institution needs a gallery (or two) to engage with each other, and with the community at large. Gallery space for students will always remain important, but there is nothing in Edmonton to rival or even remotely compare to the programming happening in University-based art galleries across this country.

18 // ARTS

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

5) More curators working at the AGA. With the new building and expansion of gallery space, it's time to expand the curatorial responsibilities to address fields like the gallery's historical collection, new and interdisciplinary media and Indigenous arts.

4) Fewer canned shows (see above).

3) For Canadian art to matter more to Canadians and to the rest of the world.

2) A Canadian Biennial. I know, does the world really need another biennial? But for a country as big as Canada, a biennial actually makes sense to bring together the different regions into a single exhibition that focuses on cohesions and tensions across this vast land of ours.

1) Mentorship. Because mentorship exists in combination with succession planning, and if there's anything I would ask for in Edmonton, it's conscious momentum. V Amy Fung is the author of prairieartsters.com

EDUCATION // RESEARCH

Following the dollars

Who benefits when oil companies invest in university research? cAM FENTON // FENTON@vueweekly.com

T

ake a walk through the University of Alberta campus and you are almost guaranteed to walk past a building, lecture hall or lab paid for by oil companies. As public funding continues to decline, universities in Canada are becoming dependent on funding from corporate sources for research and infrastructure, and in Alberta that means oil money.

To schools this represents a new, steady source of funding while provincial and federal revenues continue to decrease. For many undergraduate and graduate students it is a blessing, granting access to new facilities and funding where there was little or none before.

"For an undergrad student it's not that bad: you get new buildings, new labs and a much better learning space," Aden Murphy, VP External at the University of Alberta Students' Union, says. But critics are worried about what the money is doing to green industry's image, without really changing its operations.

Funding from the tar sands industry has fueled the establishment of industry-oriented research centres at universities around the province.

The Centre for Oil Sands Innovation (COSI) was founded at the University of Alberta in 2005 through a partnership between Imperial Oil, Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions, and the Faculty of Engineering.

According to Dr Murray Gray, director of the multi-million dollar research institute, the COSI exists to "train the next generation of people in [oil sands] technology."

At the University of Calgary, the Insti-

tute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) is an interdisciplinary institute that does research on numerous aspects of the technology and public policy aspect of the oil and gas industry in Alberta. It also claims to be the "U of C's main vehicle and 'brand' for attracting funding support for research, teaching and innovation in Energy and Environment."

The COSI asks visitors to their website to imagine a world with "oil sands operations that use little or no water, consume less energy, generate lower greenhouse gas emissions and yield high-quality products at lower costs."

Sustainability is a common theme in the mandates of both institutes, but critics point out that they depend on the continuation of an unsustainable enterprise for operation.

"We are so far away from anything that is remotely sustainable in the tar sands, or any other form of extraction for that

to the extermination of downstream communities."

There are worries about the sorts of strings attached to industry funding, and that these projects limit the scope of research to topics and ideas that can be applied in the oil fields. "With some of money that the University gets it affects the focus of the kinds of applied research that happen at the institution," Nick Dehod, President of the University of Alberta Students' Union, explains.

"That has impacts for the opportunities that undergraduate and graduate students have for getting involved in research."

While these institutes give the impression that oil and gas companies are increasingly investing in new research and development, in fact these budgets have plummeted over the past three decades. matter," explains MacDonald Stainsby of Oil Sands Truth (oilsandstruth.org).

He sees these institutes as not offering solutions, but acting as an advertising and public relations exercise by industry to "create the impression that [industry] are making attempts to do the impossible, greening the tar-sands development while continuing to do the extraction that will eventually lead us over the climate-change cliff and lead

In her report Big Oil Goes to College, Jennifer Washburn details some of the pitfalls of oil-industry funding and research in universities in the United States. Of the 10 industry-funded research institutes studied, nine of them failed to retain majority control of the allocation of funding for research in the hands of the institution, instead giving control to industry partners.

Washburn points out that this essen-

tially means that oil and gas companies are buying their own research institutes, controlling what projects receive funding and deciding how the research is used.

But it is not only industry funding this research, public money is also a major part of the equation. In 2008 the ISEEE received $5 million from Natural Resources Canada (NRC) for research into carbon capture and storage technology. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace look at CCS as a "false solution"—unproven technology that industry and government officials invest in to give the image that they are acting on climate change. To date NRC has invested $151 million for research and development of new CCS technologies.

In addition to the COSI, the University of Alberta is also home to the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN), a group that "compiles, interprets and analyzes" research and passes it along to industry, media and government officials. The OSRIN was founded through two grants from Alberta Environment totaling $4.5 million, of which only 21 percent of payments go to University, with 53 percent going to "consultants, industry and associations." Another 26 percent goes to outside research organizations, such as the Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada—an industry and government think tank chaired by Earle Shirley, the director of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, and advised by representatives from major oil and gas corporations Suncor, Cenovus, ConocoPhillips and Enbridge Pipelines.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 >>

// Chelsea Boos

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

COMMENT >> ALBERTA EDUCATION

Issues

Issues is a forum for individuals and organizations to comment on current events and broader issues of importance to the community. Their commentary is not necessarily the opinion of the organizations they represent or of Vue Weekly.

Better luck next time

Recent provincial education review needs resources to deliver

Ricardo Acuña // parklandinstitute.ca

In November 2008 Alberta's Education Minister Dave Hancock struck a committee to carry out a broad discussion with Albertans about the future of our province's education system. The process, entitled Inspiring Education, was built around the question of what our education system would need to look like in the year 2030 in order to properly meet the public interest, the needs of students and the needs of our economy.

As provincial consultations go, the process was better than most. It was cochaired by MLA Jeff Johnson and high school teacher Brent McDonough, and made a genuine effort to consult not only with all those folks directly involved in our education system, but also with the public at large through a series of workshops and dialogues and on-line conversations and questionnaires.

The committee's report was released publicly last June, and was quickly followed by the release of a discussion paper by the minister entitled Inspiring Action. In his foreword to the discussion paper, Minister Hancock says that "Inspiring Education was about dreaming the dream, and Inspiring Action is about what we all must do to make this dream a reality." Inspiring Action contains the policy directions that Hancock feels will be necessary to make the vision of Inspiring Education a reality. The ultimate goal is a re-write of Alberta's School Act, and the introduction of a series of regulations to fill out the necessary policies.

Both documents are full of big picture values and ideas which reflect both current research on pedagogy and the expressed wishes of Albertans vis a vis their education system. Built around concepts like student-centred learning, shared responsibility, accountability and transparency, an increased role for schools in the community, wrap-around services for students, effective use of technology, and greater flexibility, it is difficult to imagine anyone opposing the ideas and directions identified by the process thus far.

There are, however, two significant concerns about where the process goes from here. This government has a history of approving vague, big-picture legislation that sounds fabulous, then letting the specifics be filled out through regulations in council. Given Alberta's current political reality, where the governing party is feeling significant pressure from its right flank as a result of the Wildrose Alliance's growing popularity, having broad legislation without specifics could be dangerous, and the results contrary to the wishes of most Albertans.

Within this context: the concept of student-centred learning could be used to justify a voucher system for education, the concept of shared responsibility could result in more public-private partnerships, contracting out of services, and off-loading to community groups; an increased focus on technology could result in a greater corporate presence in the classroom; and as we know from our experience with health care, the idea of flexibility could actually mean greater funding for private schools and the introduction of new service providers to the system.

Minister Hancock has himself stated that most of what's in the documents could be accomplished within the parameters of the existing School Act. If that's the case, then why risk a re-write?

The greater concern, however, is that, historically, this government has not shown itself to have the political will to invest the resources necessary to meet the current targets and desired outcomes of the education system. It is telling, for example, that at the exact same time that these two documents were being released, the government was telling school boards that there was no money to cover the negotiated increase in salaries for this year, and cutting programs which provided critical funding to mandated areas like phys ed and art.

We've been through this before with the 2003 Learning Commission, where there has been little to no action on any of the recommendations which actually required an infusion of funding

from the government.

Although the minister has said throughout the process that this shouldn't be about funding or staffing or salaries, the reality is that we cannot get there from here without a commitment to adequate, stable and predictable funding from the government.

Teachers and other staff are already stretched beyond thin and facing greater cutbacks and budgetary restrictions every day. How do we move toward concepts like student-centred learning without adequately funding proper student-teacher ratios and support staff? How do we increase the role of school buildings in the community when school boards are being forced to close community schools and community groups are currently shut out of P3 schools? How do we implement wrap-around services in a province where social services, health care and community supports have been chronically underfunded since at least 1993? How do we maximize the effective use of technology in the classroom if schools are already forced to fundraise, organize casinos, and beg corporations for donations in order to get computers and smart boards today?

What confidence can we have that this government will take any positive steps on the policy directions in Inspiring Action given its current $5 billion deficit, its vow to hold the line on expenditures, and the single focus of the finance minister on balancing the books by dealing only with the expense side of the balance sheet?

In the end, despite the best intentions of the minister, the quality of the consultation process and the desirability of the vision, nothing will change unless the government can guarantee that it will provide the resources necessary to make both the vision and spirit of Inspiring Education a reality, and history shows that is not likely to happen. Perhaps we'll have better luck the next time they undertake this kind of process. V Ricardo Acuña is the executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan public policy research institute housed at the University of Alberta.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

EDUCATION // 21

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EDUCATION // CHILDCARE

Balancing act

On-campus daycare attempts to alleviate a busy post-secondary parent's life Jenn PRosser // PRosser@vueweekly.com

F

or some, post-secondary education is solely a place of learning, where classes take place—a means to an end.

For others it is a flexible, multi-faceted space, filling the needs of a homebase, a workplace or a social setting. In an ideal world, a post-secondary learning environment would bring together the best of all worlds and on-campus childcare is one step toward achieving this aim.

Childcare is not a required feature in workplaces, but it adds to the appeal of an organization. Recently the debate over the provision of childcare at post-secondary institutions has sparked a dicussion of an institution's image, a faculty member's choice of institution and a parent's ability to not have to choose between higher education and being a formative person in their child's life.

Shannon Digweed was a single mother throughout her undergraduate career at the University of Alberta. "We started in a daycare off campus—that was harder.

It was all about timing really. Sometimes you had to leave early, and because the day care was open at eight, you couldn't enroll in earlier classes." In her second

year, she discovered the on-campus daycare located in the HUB building. This opportunity changed her undergraduate experience.

"It was great, I'd take her in the morning, and you could always take them in quite early so you never were late for your 8 am lab or class, and they were open fairly late. It gave you the opportunity, so when you're studying you could go in at lunch and visit with them, or during breaks in your class schedule during that day."

There are currently five childcare centres on the University of Alberta campus, and each caters to a different demographic.

They range in price depending on age and need, averaging around $1000 monthly. These centres are not university operated, but are "University affiliated daycare programs." Their collective mission is to be "family oriented child care centres which develop trust and respond to the needs of the child as well as the family."

Currently, each U of A daycare has a minimum one to two year wait list, and to be put on the wait list there is a mandatory deposit, ranging from $50 to $500.

Students and administrators open new daycare site in Lethbridge

CONTINUED ON PAGE 31 >>

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

EDUCATION // 23

EDUCATION // INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOVEMENT

The growth of student protests against education cuts in 2010 has created comparisons between the protests of 1968â&#x20AC;&#x201D;viewed by many as the height of student activism of the '60s. Students were protesting around the world. The US military was called out to protests at the Democratic National Convention, while in France the student movement evolved into a national general strike. Austerity measures proposed and enacted in 2010 have meant greater cuts to education in Europe and higher tuition fees.

It has been a call to action for students across the globe.

January 28, 2010: University of Alberta Administrators announce plans for the implementation of a non-instructional fee on all students to alleviate a growing deficit at the school.

March 18: Over 400 students from across Alberta march on the provincial legislature to protest a planned ancillary fee increases at schools around the province.

June 26 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 27: This summer's G20 meetings in Toronto end with an agreement from all nations to implement austerity measures to cut funding of public services as part of global economic recovery.

October 12: University and High School students walk out of classes to join general strikes in Paris.

Summer of '68

International student protests reinvigorate demands for affordable education Cam fenton // fenton@vueweekly.com

F

ollowing a mass protest in London, one student wrote in The Guardian that a new generation of students had reached their "'68 moment."

He was referencing the year 1968, which many view as the climax of 1960s student activism. Students around the globe took to the streets in protest, from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the United States military was called out, to protests in France that evolved into a nationwide general strike.

Austerity measures, many of which were the result of discussions at this summer's G8 and G20 summits in On-

24 // EDUCATION

tario, are being invoked to validate cuts to university funding around the globe.

In the United Kingdom, students are facing tripling tuition rates, one of the worst examples of how the costs of education are being increasingly heaped onto the shoulders of students.

Over the past three months, tens of thousands of students have taken to the streets in the UK, holding major actions across the country. On November 10, thousands of students participating in a march through London broke through police lines and smashed into the Tory party's campaign headquarters in Millbank Tower occupying the roof and hanging banners.

Students took to the streets again in

mass protests on November 30 and December 9. The latter was the date of a parliamentary vote on education reform, where tens of thousands of students attempted to break through police lines and descend on the parliament buildings in London.

But mass student protests have not been limited to Britain. In Italy, students facing education reform due to austerity budgets occupied the Colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then took to the streets in late November, blocking railway stations, roads and clashing with police in Rome. French students blocked universities and high schools during a widespread general strike in October where students, labour unions and

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; JAN 12, 2011

others shut down cities and major industries in protest of government cuts to services.

Many Canadian universities are now looking to increase tuition and ancillary fees over the coming years to compensate for a lack of federal and provincial money. According to Statistics Canada, in 1987 universities received 84 percent of their funding from government sources, with tuition bringing in 13.7 percent. By 1997, the government funding had fallen to 67 percent and by 2007 it had dropped to 57 percent. Across the country students are reacting.

On November 24, University of Ottawa students occupied the administra-

tive offices of university president Allan Rock calling on the administration to reverse planned increases and freeze tuition, increase student representatives in decision making and take steps towards eliminating tuition fees.

"With banners, megaphones and music we managed to disrupt business as usual in Rock's office," Iain Brannigan, a student organizer and the University of Ottawa, explained.

Two weeks later, thousands of students from across Quebec descended on the National Assembly in Quebec City to protest the removal of a tuition freeze by the provincial government, a move that will see tuition in Quebec increase by $500 a year starting in 2012.

Administrations at some universities

November 10: Student protest in London culminates in an occupation of the headquarters of the Conservative Party in London.

November 24: Walkouts take place in schools across the UK along with a major protest outside of Whitehall in London.

Students at the University of Ottawa occupy administrative offices to protest planned fee and tuition increases.

are calling for increases of up to $1500 a year to alleviate growing deficits.

Students in Alberta currently pay around $5250 per year for an undergraduate degree—just above the national average and 32 percent above 2000 levels. While the majority of funding to the University of Alberta comes from the provincial government which provides 66 percent ($575 million), tuition still accounts 23 percent or $203 million.

"We faced a really rough year last year with the province going into deficit and not increasing the University's funding," says Aden Murphy, VP external with the University of Alberta Students' Union. "It's a problem because the university’s costs go up faster than inflation, so when you have a zero percent increase in funding it is essentially like inflation just decreased your budget."

This gap in funding, Murphy explains, left the university searching for ways to fill that funding gap, putting into place what they call "efficiencies," including plans for a $550 per student non-

November 25: Italian students occupy Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum.

instructional fee. The University also implemented market modifiers, which allows faculties to apply for programspecific tuition increases if they can prove a need for the increase. Market modifiers have been put in place at the U of A in the faculties of engineering,

November 30: Mass protests in Britain and Italy. After three days of protest, the Welsh parliament votes against fee tuition increases.

program. According to Murphy, it is unknown how long the $290 fee will be in place for.

The provincial government blames the recent recession for cuts to university funding, and with deficit budgets

"For the International Students Movement, they have called out for spring 2011 to be the 'Spring of Resistance' ... who knows, maybe our generation will have another '68." pharmacy, grad studies and business, with increases ranging from 15 to 66 percent.

In March 2010, hundreds of students from across Alberta participated in a march from the U of A campus to the provincial legislature. The campaign led to a decision by University administration to reduce the fee from $550 to $290, and an announcement from the provincial government that market modifiers would be a one time

predicted into the foreseeable future, restoring funding is the students next "big fight" according to Murphy.

"The big thing we have to worry about in the future is getting increases to university funding brought back," he explains. "Even if we aren't having to pay these fees, students all suffer when the University is having to cut back its budget, that is the next problem we are going to have."

For Murphy and the Students' Union,

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

December 6: Quebec students march on the national assembly to protest planned tuition and fee hikes.

this means getting students out to vote in the next provincial election to make an impact. “If we have even a 50 per cent turnout from just our campus, it would have an impact.”

While Brannigan agrees that provincial campaigns are part of the equation, he also sees students across Canada coming together in a spirit of solidarity, fighting for a common goal as a major solution to rising costs.

"Students working both nationally and internationally is extremely important," he explains, pointing to successes of campaigns by groups like the Canadian Federation of Students as examples of how national collaboration can help.

Murphy, who also sits as chair of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, sees some value in national coordination, but is wary of committing to a national campaign in case it doesn't reach the desired end.

"As someone from the Students' Union, I would be interested in looking at some kind of national campaign: what would it take for us to build, participate and add our voice to others,"

December 9: While the British Parliament votes to pass education reform legislation, thousands of students stage protest outside of the national parliament and attempt to disrupt the vote.

Murphy explains. "At the same time, if you are going to spend two million dollars to launch an effective campaign, that's a huge amount of money that you are gambling, and you may not have an effect."

Murphy is fairly certain that tuition hikes like those being seen in the UK aren't likely in Alberta anytime soon, and without that sort of a fee hike, protests in the UK style aren't in the cards.

"To have the same level of reaction and outrage you would have to have things get worse here, you would have to have the provincial government balancing its deficit on the backs of its institutions,” he states. "$290 is brutal when you're working for 10 dollars an hour, but it's still not tripling your tuition."

With student protests expected to continue, and to intensify as austerity measures continue to impact post-secondary education, exactly what is to come is unclear, but Brannigan is hopeful.

"For the International Students Movement, they have called out for spring 2011 to be the 'Spring of Resistance' ... who knows, maybe our generation will have another '68." V

EDUCATION // 25

EDUCATION // WRITING

Starting up

New writer in residence talks social media and building community writers and give them the confidence that they need to commit to writing the first draft of that manuscript or screenplay or stage play.

Mike angus // MIKEANGUS@vueweekly.com

A

uthor and playwright Marty Chan started his term as Writer in Residence at the Edmonton Public Library this past week. Chan has had success in television, radio, theatre and children's literature, his recent appointment makes him the second playwright to take over the residency at EPL. Vue had the chance to catch up with Chan and talk about the influence of social media on outreach, and connecting writers into a community of mentors here in Edmonton.

VW: You have equal skills and accomplishments in both theatre and literature. Do you think that was one of the considerations in your appointment to this residency?

MC: I think the EPL wanted to find someone that could champion the writing community, so it helps that I had a background in theatre, television and fiction so that I reach out to more people. In the same way [last year's WIR] Chris Craddock has a whole number of different skill sets and he was able to reach out to number of different writers and genres.

VUE WEEKLY: What does this residency mean for you?

MARTY CHAN: I get to work on my own projects in exchange for public outreach for the EPL. That takes the form of public events like writing workshops, or one-on-one consultations with writers that want to show me their manuscripts for feedback, and events like the upcoming Meet, Tweet and Greet.

VW: Tell me about the Meet, Tweet and Greet and what you're hoping to achieve.

MC: It's a community-building event.

I've reached out and tried to get as many different representatives of writing organizations in the city that represent poetry, fiction, theatre, film, comics ... any genre I could think of that had a group representing it. It's a chance for the writing community to come together and celebrate the fact that there is a writing community that's large and vibrant and talented. But for beginning writers, it's a chance for them to go meet the people who may become their mentors, or who have programs and resources to help beginning writers get to the next step of their career.

It's meant for writers of all levels: if you have questions about what it means to be a writer or how to get started, somebody in that room will be able to answer your question. For the mid-level and established writer, it's a

themselves creatively. I'd like to able to put together a drama podcast— which is essentially a radio play—but there's just a different way of distributing it. I don't have to worry about people tuning in at 10 o'clock tonight for an hour. With a podcast, I can break it up into seven instalments, and I don't have to worry about when it airs. People can download it and listen to it on their own timeline. So in some ways it's quite freeing, but at the same time it still relies on the basics you need for dramatic writing. So while the form of expression is new, the rules of how you craft the story stay the same.

VW: How do you see working with the EPL and the challenges of staying relevant in the digital age?

I'm going to be writing all 50 000 words in public.

I'm going to be at all the various library branches, spending two to three hours every day writing in that branch, and I invite people to come in and watch the process.

New year means a new job for Marty Chan

chance to re-connect with colleagues and start talking to peers in other genres so that maybe there are some possible creative partnerships that can emerge from the event, whether you suddenly find a poet working with someone who's working in comics, or an author who's working with a screenwriter to adapt a novel.

VW: What's the span of your role?

MC: Every writer can shape the residency the way they want, as long as they spend 60 percent of the time on their own projects and 40 percent with public outreach programs.

When I pitched the EPL my residen-

cy, I really wanted it to be a program that reached out to those beginning writers, because I've been at this for close to 20 years, and I kept thinking back to what it was like when I was starting out—how nervous I was talking to professional writers or just being confused about how to start. I remember wishing there was something in place that could give me that information and confidence so that I could feel like this whole writing thing didn't seem as intimidating as I made it out to be.

So I thought I should build some programs that reach out to writers of all levels, but focus on those beginning

VW: You're the second playwright in two years to be selected for the residency. How does your role as a playwright differ from that of an author?

MC: It's been really fun jumping back and forth between writing novels and writing plays. The difference is there's a lot more focus on character development through dialogue with plays, and with novels I find I have to develop the character and the story through the narrative. So in some way, plays are more freeing in the sense that I just worry about the dialogue and the characters, but at the same time I can't shape the world the way I can with novels because I lose one tool in my tool kit.

VW: How do you see technology as a tool for writers?

MC: I think that with social media and the tech end of things, they provide more tools for writers to express

MC: I'm really thrilled the EPL has embraced technology the way it has.

They've been active with the social media profile; instead of simply focusing on books, they've introduced tech-friendly programs ... they're saying, "Hey, we want to be relevant to our users, and their needs have changed over the last few years, and so we need to change with them. We're serving the general public; there's no point in being a dusty old building where all we do is celebrate books when there's so many other ways of communicating stories."

VW: Do you still celebrate books?

MC: Yes I do. I love reading, I love holding a printed book in my hand.

I won't go so far as to say that I like the smell of books ... but I do love the feel of a book in my hand. I like CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 >>

A written history Marty Chan is the fifth writer in residence at the Edmonton Public Library. He continues the tradition his four predecessors making significant contributions to the Edmonton writing scene.

residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon and collected stories of children in remote northern towns for the upcoming book, Northern Kids.

2007 Linda Goyette Goyette started in journalism at the Edmonton Journal and published her first book, Second Opinion, a collection of her columns and essays, in 1998. She combined journalism, public policy and advocacy by working with the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters to edit Standing Together, a collection of stories and poems by women recovering from domestic violence. During her term as writer in residence she wrote the book The Story That Brought Me Here, a collection of immigrants' writing. She recently served as writer in

2008 Marilyn Dumont A poet, Dumont published her first collection of works, A Really Good Brown Girl, in 1997 and won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Dumont's writing is informed by her Metis background and has recently been engaged in New Zealand to share indigenous writing for the Honouring Words Celebration.

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2009 Conni Massing Massing has written for theatre, radio, film and television. She's

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

worked for Theatre Network and the National Theatre School of Canada. While she was writer in residence she was working on compiling a book-length memoir about road trips, which is set to be released this year.

2010 Chris Craddock Primarily a playwright, Craddock has written or co-written over 20 plays for the local Fringe and mainstage. He is the recipient of a GLAAD award for Bash'd, a gay rap opera; he's writer and star of a bilingual feature film and adapted Miriam Toews book, Summer of My Amazing Luck, for the stage. He has won five Sterling Awards and describes himself as a political artist and uses his work to speak out against social problems such as homophobia.

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CHILDCARE

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

The long wait times haven't changed from when Digweed moved to attend the U of C in Calgary. "There is so much demand for it. I was on the waitlist for my entire Master's degree. So many people wanted to take advantage of it, there was never any room."

Digweed does recognize that there have been and continue to be daycares and dayhomes located off campus, and like many students, staff and faculty, her children were enrolled in those off-campus places but, "Good daycares and dayhomes are limited in numbers. I think that people seem to perceive that there are a lot of opportunities for daycare but I don't think it's as easy as most people think. Even when Kennedy was young, and I was looking for a daycare it was not easy. You had to go in there and spend time in each place you go to. Looking, and making sure they're accredited, how many staff per child, what is their history, and a lot of them are always at capacity."

Outside of the U of A, most every major PSE institution has a daycare centre on-campus. Besides being an asset in attracting high-quality instructors and researchers, it also improves the image of an institution. In a place where space is valuable in every way it can be, an institution choosing to invest capital in childcare speaks to a higher value, and ideal of a community, not just a campus.

The conversation about daycare continues for student governments at each

PSE institution in Alberta. Duncan Wojtaszek, Executive Director of the Council of Alberta University Students, is involved with the struggle "to have access to it and [have] it be a vital part of the campus community, not just for some members of the campus." From Wojtaszek's perspective, it is not that the university doesn't care about open-

hands-on experience while faculty and staff take advantage of on-campus childcare. Although it is no longer an issue for Shannon, she does understand the impact it would have on faculty members.

"A lot of people in our department have young children," and because the institution has shown that day care is a priority, "it makes it look like they care," says

The campus daycare can be an important part of the campus community to emphasize to both students and staff that the campus is their home, the campus is their primary community. ing space for students, it is that they recognize that the daycare is a vital public service to recruit new faculty. This is universal to campuses across the country.

Melanee Thomas, a burgeoning Canadian academic, understands the impact childcare centres have on campus environments. "University campuses are designed to be community outreach centres in a lot of ways, and there is more than one way to learn. It was extremely positive, and something that I would look for in any campus I would consider taking a tenure track position in."

Digweed now teaches at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, and despite her new position in the postsecondary strata, she is well aware of the MacEwan on-campus day care. Run by the Early Learning and Child Care program at MacEwan, it provides a winwin for the university. ELCC students get

Digweed. Simply put, childcare centres reflect the environment an institution fosters, good or bad.

The number one issue brought up time and time again is that daycares do not make any money. In an economy driven by market principles of profit, it is less than popular to start a venture where there is no guarantee of capital gain. The U of A on-campus daycares charge an average of $900 monthly for a child between 19 months and five years. The Government of Alberta offers a maximum subsidy of $546 per month per child for the same age range. This leaves the parent to pay just under $400 on average monthly for childcare. That is some students' monthly rent in shared accommodation. While oncampus childcare opens doors for many students who otherwise wouldn't be able to successfully complete post-secondary

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; JAN 12, 2011

learning, without the subsidy offered by the provincial government, daycare cost would present a large, and for many insurmountable barrier to attaining a postsecondary education. The subsidy is critical to being able to afford childcare for many, students and non-students alike.

From Digweed's perspective, "It makes the difference between being able to have your kids in a good daycare versus having a place where you don't really know what is going on looking after them."

Today, public institutions, like MacEwan, are coming up with creative solutions. While students take advantage of hands on training, the institution benefits from having a high quality childcare program to offer new faculty and staff, and the children enrolled are reaping the rewards of progress in early childhood education practices.

The University of Lethbridge, and Mount Royal University have opened up daycare centres on-campus. For the U of L, this was the result of a long battle. Many years were spent by a loose organization of stu-

dents, graduate students and professors who came together to tell the university very clearly how important this prioritization of space is. It signified a new attitude by administration, recognizing the important role an on-campus daycare plays in its community. At the end of the day, for any institution it will be a matter of need demonstrated and the desire to foster a true campus community.

Wojtaszek's experience with postsecondary education means that he understands the conversations that occur when finances are tough; he notes that "there is always a temptation to look at other ways to outsource daycare, to take it out of the campus community and to privatize it." But Wojtaszek believes that, "the campus daycare can be an important part of the campus community to emphasize to both students and staff that the campus is their home, the campus is their primary community. Not just where they learn, not just where they work, but also a place where they live and where their family is welcome." V

EDUCATION // 31

32 // EDUCATION

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

FOLLOWING THE DOLLAR << CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

Washburn also points out that, despite costing millions of dollars for big oil, these research institutes are a publicrelations bargain. While these institutes give the impression that oil and gas companies are increasingly investing in new research and development, in fact these budgets have plummeted over the past three decades. In the 1980s research and development budgets at the four largest oil companies— ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and Chevron— were an average of $6.4 billion (US) per year. By 2000 that amount had dropped to $1.7 billion (US), and has marginally increased in years since.

In 2009, Shell reported earnings of $278 billion (US) while investing $1.3 billion (US) into the entirety of its research and development operations.

Looking at the University of Alberta, in 2007 Shell vaunted a $1 million investment at the university—including $250 000 for a geomechanical/reservoir experimental facility which would be "available to Shell so the company can conduct agreed-upon research projects with the U of A." That same year, the oil giant grossed over $355

STARTING UP

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

e-readers, but I prefer holding a book in my hand because when I have my iPhone in hand, I'm playing Angry Birds [laughs].

VW: Given your background in theatre, radio and television on a national scale, how is Canada doing in the international scene?

MC: The great thing about Canadian artists is they're getting less apologetic about what they do, and more proud of what they do. For example, in Edmonton more writers are using Edmonton as a setting in their novels, like Todd Babiuk and Minister Faust. And so I'm thrilled to see this pride that's coming out of our Canadian artists. They're going to shape how the international audience views Canada ... 20 years down the line, if Canadian artists keep going the way they're going, Canada is going to be communicated to the world through ... all the different media that artists are using today.

VW: How important has it been for you to stay in Edmonton?

MC: It's been really important. For me, it's the right-sized city; I know it's growing, but I feel like I'm growing with it. I've lived and worked in Toronto, Regina and Vancouver ... I love to visit big cities, but I don't like to work and live there. And coming from a small town, I don't like a city that's too small, so Edmonton feels like it's just right for me.

VW: You've had great success with cross-cultural comedy. How does race inform what you do?

MC: Every time I look in the mirror, race informs me of what I do [laughs].

I can't get away from the fact that I'm a Chinese-Canadian artist, and I've

billion dollars, lending credence to the argument that research funding has an ulterior motive.

"The idea behind doing sponsorships, buying up auditoriums and whatnot under the Shell, Suncor or Albian name is entirely part of normalization," Stainsby explains. "It gives the image that [oil companies] are part of your community to create the impression that they are not only there, but that they will inevitably remain there and you need to accept that and find ways to work with them instead of shutting them down."

For all the funding, and lauding of the sustainability-driven agendas of these research institutes, little major progress has been seen in the real world, as the slew of reports from and to the Canadian government released in December reinforced the industry's dirty image.

Meanwhile students in the University of Alberta's Engineering Department returned to classes in the Shell Lecture Theatre this week. With many of them headed towards job prospects in the oil patch it poses the question, does industry really consider investments in postsecondary as the solution to its pollution problem or is it just another front in its public relations battle? V

learned to embrace that aspect of me.

So sometimes the work I produce will be influenced by my Chinese background, and sometimes by my Canadian background. And I think that's an interesting place for me to be as an artist because I can never really find myself landing on one side of the fence or the other; I always feel like I'm jumping from one side to the other, or sometimes I straddle both sides.

That's what makes it interesting, and at the same challenging, when I put a piece together.

VW: What are some goals you've set for yourself with the residency?

MC: I was foolish enough to make a promise that I would write the first draft of a new novel in November as part of the National Novel Writing Month [laughs]. Basically, I have to start working on the first draft of my manuscript on November 1, and by November 30 I have to have at least 50 000 words written.

The catch is I'm going to be writing all 50 000 words in public. I'm going to be at all the various library branches, spending two to three hours every day writing in that branch, and I invite people to come in and watch the process. Or better yet, they come in with their laptops and notebooks and write their own first drafts of their novels right beside me. Along the way, I'll share some motivational tips to keep everybody writing.

Chan's residency at EPL started this week and continues throughout the year.

Watch for events to be announced as Chan continues his term. V Sat, Jan 15 (2:30 pm) Meet, Tweet and Greet EPL Whitemud Branch 4211 - 106 St, Free (bring a book for the book swap)

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

EDUCATION // 33

EDUCATION // MUSIC

Smooth transition

Grant MacEwan's new additions work well in its music department MIKE ANGUS // MIKEANGUS@vueweekly.com

F

Group harmony

or over 40 years, Grant MacEwan, first as a community college and now as a university, has been one of the few post-secondary schools in Canada to offer a music diploma that combines mainstream jazz with popular music genres like rock, pop and country. It boasts a hand in the development of talents like country star Corb Lund, pop songstresses Ann Vriend and Colleen Brown and jazz trumpeter Lina Allemano, to name only a few.

Yet up until recently, Canada had no Bachelor of Music programs with a jazz concentration this side of Toronto. With the introduction of Grant MacEwan's Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music, however, it is possible to get a comprehensive musical education that spans several genres while exposing students to growing fields like studio recording, digital technologies as well as the business of making music. Bob Gilligan, chair of the program and vocal-music department head, is excited at the prospects and what the program means for postsecondary music students in Edmonton and across Canada.

"Our very successful [two-year] diploma program was one of the first programs offered when the Grant MacEwan music program started in 1973," he explains. "The concept of that program was that practising musicians who were on the road at that time, who needed more skills and knowledge,

would come in to our program and get that, and then go back on the road. Now that was 35 years ago, and that isn’t the reality today," Gilligan acknowledges.

"In today’s education system, students who come into our [diploma] program want to continue their education, so we developed all sorts of agreements with [other universities]," he offers, pointing out the unique transfer arrangements Grant MacEwan offers with schools like Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, as well as the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Montréal's McGill university, the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "But the reality is that many of the students that graduated from our program didn't want to move away: they wanted to stay here and continue here," Gilligan extols.

"And so consequently we're starting our own unique degree that focuses on all aspects of jazz and contemporary popular music."

Students need little or no exposure to jazz to apply for the program and its rigorous audition and training requirements; the program offers musicians from all musical backgrounds an opportunity to expand their horizons into all aspects of music—genre and otherwise.

"Jazz is the language of how we speak about music. It applies to all sorts of contemporary popular music. The theories and arranging concepts are based in jazz repertoire—jazz preceded rock and CONTINUED ON PAGE 35 >>

MacEwan musical success MacEwan's evolving music programs have played an integral role in the careers of many of the successful musicians here in Edmonton. Here are some examples through the years.

Colleen Brown (pop/jazz singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist) winner of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, finalist in CBC Song Quest; has appeared at the Edmonton Folk Fest, and shared the stage with Hawksley Workman, Frank Black, Gogol Bordello, the McDades, Adam Cohen and Adam Gregory. She's even house-sat for Kathleen Edwards.

Chloe Albert (pop/folk singer/songwriter/guitarist) winner of the 2008 Emerging Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, recipient of funding from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Edmonton Arts

34 // EDUCATION

Council for her debut album Dedicated State. Has performed with Eliza Gilkyson, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, and the Skydiggers.

Shane Gaalaas (hard rock/fusion drummer, singer/songwriter and producer) has backed up some of the most recognizable names in hard rock and fusion, and has played sold-out football stadiums in Japan to solo ventures as a multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter and producer.

Peter Belec (pop/jazz guitarist, songwriter) has played on 15 albums for singers like Colleen Brown, Beth Arrison, Jeff Hendrick and Ann Vriend, and in bands with fellow GMCC alumnus Doug Organ and David Babcock. Recently released his first solo album, Melodic Miner.

James Clarke (jazz pianist) is now study-

ing at Montréal's McGill University having graduated from MacEwan University's music diploma program, and has already established himself as a promising talent. He has performed with Chris Andrew, Dave Babcock, Anna Beaumont, Sheril Hart and Juno-nominee Sandro Dominelli. He has completed an all-original EP, Kingsley Crossing, with his first full-length album in the works.

Lina Allemano (jazz trumpet/band leader) was named one of "25 Trumpeters for the Future" by Down Beat magazine, her quartet has earned comparisons to groups led by Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman.

Sandro Dominelli (jazz drummer, instructor at MacEwan) His latest album, The Alvo Sessions, earned him a Western Canadian Music Award for Jazz Recording of the Year. Dominelli also won the same

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

award for his first album Café Varze Jazz in 2003, as well as a Juno nomination.

Ann Vriend (pop/jazz pianist/singer/ songwriter) has performed at a number of Canada's major festivals, as well as in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, and has toured Europe and Australia.

She has played at the Canadian Music Awards, opened for Sarah Slean and Australia's Colin Hay (of Men at Work), and recorded at Sony Studios in New York.

Doug Organ (pop/jazz keyboardist, producer/engineer) is currently at Edmontone Studio, and is a former member of the Wet Secrets and the Whitsundays, and leads his own band the Doug Organ Trio. He's done recording projects for Christian Hansen & the Autistics, Tim Gilbertson and the Omega Theory, and has recently returned from a mastering stint at London's leg-

endary Abbey Road Studio.

Mario Allende (jazz/latin percussionist) is the co-founder of Bomba!, a latin-jazz group that has toured internationally at jazz and folk festivals, as well as headlined at the Seattle Brazilfest and the Havana International Jazz festival in Cuba. The band's most recent release, Entre Sol Y Luz combines Afro-Cuban song and drumming with modern latin-jazz and even swing and north american jazz.

Corb Lund (country/folk singer-songwriter) attended MacEwan briefly before leaving the music program to start the independent rock band the smalls.

Now a solo country singer-songwriter, he has won (and been nominated for) several Canadian Country Music Awards, Western Canadian Music Awards and Juno Awards. V

MUSIC

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34

MacEwan students learn the art of performance

popular music, so those roots are embedded in those types of music, so that's the vehicle we use to discuss it."

Not only is it rare to find a four-year music program in North America that combines jazz and contemporary popular music, but also to find one that offers a minor focusing on music career management.

Students can choose from three major categories of performance, com-

position, or general studies, but they also have the opportunity to underline their education with classes on the business of making music for a living, because, as Gilligan points out, being a musician is like starting and running your own business.

"You're self-employed, no question," he enthuses. "You run into the same issues as a self-employed writer, for example.

So we offer a Music Career Management

minor, which exposes our students to all aspects of the music other than the playing. We bring in the musicians' association, SOCAN, Alberta Foundation of the Arts, agents, entertainment lawyers—we bring in all different aspects of the music program to expose it to our students, to talk about health, promotion ... There's so many different aspects to your career as a musician and we hope to give you some in-depth study into those." V

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

EDUCATION // 35

EDUCATIONRoundup OUTSIDE TUITION

T

he Council of Alberta University Students is asking Advanced Education Minister Horner to legislate changes to ancillary fees. Fees outside of tuition cover everything from special university projects to last year's proposed "market modi-

SAMANTHA POWER // samantha@vueweekly.com

AUSTERE ITALY fier" which was a $550 fee meant to correct an improper tuition calculation. At the time of that fee proposal Horner declared in the University of Alberta campus paper The Gateway, that he would be open to the idea of legislating non-academic ancil-

lary fees to ensure they did not increase rapidly without consultation. Currently ancillary fees in Alberta are the highest in the country. At the University of Alberta they've nearly doubled since 2004 to just over $700 this academic year.

Students protest unaccountable fees last spring

A

s part of the austerity measures in Italy, the Gelmini bill has been highly contested by students and citizens, but was approved by the Italian government in December. Thousands of students have been demonstrating in Rome, Milan and Sardegna for months against the proposed reforms. The reforms are directed to-

wards encouraging higher education to be more career-track focused and would reward those institutions that do well, while cutting funds to others. Austerity measures in Italy have already included drastic cuts to education funding, which is only expected to continue with the implemtation of the Gelmini bill.

BUY THE BOOKS

A

dvanced Education Minister Doug Horner is working on ways to improve the affordability of textbooks for post-secondary students. Early in December Horner announced he would be looking for ways to expand the use of e-books in the academic system to lower costs for students. As the e-reader market expands Horner sees it as an opportunity to reduce costs for students.

But while some professors and universities have begun to incorporate digital media and course packages, it may be students themselves who are most opposed to this idea. The National Association of College Stores reported that 92 percent of students don't own e-readers, and most students would prefer to carry textbooks they can highlight, write in the pages and not have to worry about viruses and computer crashes.

And the business market for e-text-

books has not expanded to be highly sustainable just yet. CourseSmart, is the world's largest e-book initiative by five major publishers, only produces 5000 textbooks which is about 30 percent of the market.

Textbooks are increasingly a problem in planning university costs, as repeated new editions are required and a single textbook can cost students hundreds of dollars. While the adherence of the provincial government to keeping tuition increases to CPI has kept tuition increases quite low, textbook prices can increase 2.8 times faster than CPI. Students have attempted to work with professors and universities to encourage use of used textbooks, course packs and bursaries.

Horner has not announced specifics as to how the Alberta government would assist with the implementation of an e-book plan.

FEDERAL PRIORITY

A

poll commissioned by the Canadian Association of University Teachers reports more Canadians approve of increased education spending even if it means increased taxes. Forty-eight percent of respondents said the most important thing the federal government can do is lower tuition fees and stated they did not believe university teachers to be overpaid.

“These numbers demonstrate that Canadians are concerned about the quality of post-secondary education and

want the government to do more to improve access,” said CAUT executive director Jim Turk.

Forty percent of respondents stated governments should spend more on post secondary education, while just over 20 percent disagreed. Education came in with 12 percent when people were asked their most important federal priority.

The phone poll was conducted with 2000 Canadians in November 2010 by Harris Decima polling and is considered accurate within two percent.

RELIGIOUS GROWTH

W

PROPOSAL TO REUNITE

I

n December former education minister David King began a campaign to end the public funding of the seperate school systems in Alberta. King has now launched a petition to gather support for his cause. King is hoping the discussion

36 // EDUCATION

will be furthered in advance of the review of the School Act due to come out during the upcoming spring Legislative session.

King is hoping with the review will come a rewriting of the School Act to disestablish the seperate school system.

With the announcement of the campaign in December King called the separate school system an “anachronism that has outlived its purpose.” Currently over 125 000 students attend the Catholic school system in Alberta.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

hile the role of religion on university campuses can ignite debates, the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles undertook a sevenyear study to report on the effect of religion on students.

The study found that though official religious engagement does decline during university years, spiritual attributes actually begin to flourish.

Universities expose students to diverse cultures and ideas as well as the idea of public service learning and civic engagement as they contemplate the problems of the future.

Spiritual growth was measured in charitable involvement, equanimity, the ethic of caring and the idea of

spiritual quest. The study found university experiences and spiritual engagement and growth were positively reinforced. Students who engaged in self-reflection and attempted to connect with their inner-selves were more self-confident and had greater satisfaction with their college experience.

As well, students with the greatest amount of equanimity, the ability to find meaning in hardship, had greater grade point averages.

The full results are being released in an upcoming book, Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students' Inner Lives. The study interviewed 14 527 students at 136 colleges across the United States and began in 2002.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

EDUCATION // 37

38 // EDUCATION

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

THEATRE // REVUE

READING WITH YOUR GUT

Curtain rise, curtain fall A look at the theatre year that was

F

ed earnestly showing off its talents in forms beyond late-night improv, and early results prove the wisdom of the choice. And they're hardly the only ones stepping it up. There's nothing quite so revitalizing as new blood.

Good: Here come young companies—finally The announcement of the Surreal SoReal season marked the first full slate of shows from a new company in—wow, I can't even remember the last time. They have an unquestionably unique take on theatre that is eminently welcome, but in truth it's just nice to have some new artists willing to fully commit to their art. Meanwhile, under Amy Shostak, Rapid Fire has finally start-

Bad: Forgetting the "dialogue" part of "critical dialogue" As easy and deserved as it would be to jump on Jeff Haslam, his histrionic rant against blogger Sharon Yeo was far more indicative of the Edmonton theatrical community's reaction to criticism—whatever the source—than it should be for such a supposedly vibrant scene.

I'm not sure when, exactly, certain members of the theatre community decided that the role of

DAVID BERRY // DAVID@vueweekly.com

or Vue's look back on 2010, David Berry examines the highs and lows of the year's theatre season.

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

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<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

criticism was to pamper egos. Haslam—besides being irrational—reacted the way many in the community do to perceived poor judgements: by dismissing them outright. If the community doesn't get smarter and more engaged, it's going to consign itself to only getting national attention when it looks ridiculous.

Good: Mourning Dove I will never understand how this got so criminally overlooked at this year's Sterlings—I guess maybe the jury thought it was enough to fête Kill Your Television for the Fringe? Navigating a tricky moral ground with emotional notes that are downright punishing from start to finish, Mourning Dove was able to pull off heartbreaking, terrifying and nearly every note in between with a gutting kind of grace, built off of three exceptional performances that were as complicated and touching as the questions the play was posing. It's a production that will stick with me for years.V

JURASSIC FOREST/LEARNING CENTRE )- eafk F g^ =\egflgf g^^ @oq *09$ Lgofk`ah J\ -., =\m[Ylagf%ja[` ]fl]jlYafe]fl ^Y[adalq ^gj Ydd Y_]k

Ilustrado gets tremendous mileage out of its bricolage structure and high-wire stylistic daring, and does so without ever abandoning the murder mystery at its core. Don't wait for the inevitable reappraisal 10 years from now—in which it will approvingly be compared to Roberto Bolaño—to discover this for yourself.

5) Jean-Christophe Valtat, 03 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Remember how cool you thought you were when you were 18? How clever, and how smart? How you were the only one able to cut straight through society's fog and call bullshit on all the phonies around you? Well, so does France's Valtat—all too well. For all 90 spiraling pages of this slim novel, told in one continuous paragraph, he submerges you in the mind of an especially precocious teenager as he waits for the bus one morning before school. You'd want to punch this kid in the nose if you didn't also identify with him so embarrassingly.

The Next Five: Don DeLillo, Point Omega; Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be?; Zachary Mason, The Lost Books of the Odyssey; David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet; Vlado Žabot, The Succubus. V

:g_\Y3 mflad Jan 16

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

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ARTS // 39

FILM The year in reels

2010's finest films deal with families parting, reuniting, expanding and contracting birds and bees. Playing the universally admired but under-loved matriarch, Tilda Swinton's iconic visage seems designed for such total transformation, and John Adams' thundering music gloriously ushers us through the protracted climax, even after a fairly dopey crisis point.

Josef Braun // josef@vueweekly.com

T

he classified ad version might go something like this: Daughter seeks birthparent; Secretly unemployed dad seeks job; Well-dressed sexually repressed mom seeks lover but doesn't know it; Boxer seeks girlfriend to assist with meddling parent-manager, crackhead brother-trainer; Psychopathic impersonator seeks back-up dancers; Ailing father seeks monkey ghost of child, regular ghost of wife.

Does the fact that the majority of my favourite films of 2010 concern families parting, reuniting, expanding or contracting reflect some renewed tribal impulse brewing deep in our collective cinematic unconscious, or am I just getting sentimental with age?

The following films appeared in Edmonton cinemas or on Edmonton video store shelves within the previous calendar year. Truth is I have my reservations about a few of them, particularly with regards to those tricky final acts, but in every case there was something sufficiently charged with real vivacity, audacity or fascination to merit their inclusion.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul) The latest from what's arguably the most playful and provocative new voice to emerge within the last decade opens with fecund visions of errant livestock and fleeting sightings of mysterious jungle-dwelling beasts before crafting a gentle, funny, funky portrait of Thai country life, interrupted one evening by apparitions of loved ones who have either died or been transformed into exactly what you'd get if you crossed a wookiee with a jawa. Using the simplest of screen tricks, this sequence is the most magical thing I saw at the movies last year, though it was nearly matched by some even more oneiric episodes that follow, which include nocturnal spelunking, a slide show about an oppressive future-world without movies, and a catfish hip to cunnilingus. The author's name is Apichatpong Weerasethakul, but he says we can just call him Joe. The Social Network (dir: David Fincher) You tired yet of discussions about whether or not David Fincher's bio-pic about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg "says something about the times we live in"? Me too! I'm still itching for a second viewing to confirm how well it all works once the initial rush has washed off, but in the meantime I'm confident declaring The Social Network an awfully

40 // FILM

The Fighter (dir: David O Russell) David O Russell's latest may be his most conventional picture, but it's a knock-out, featuring an unforgettable coven of big-haired sisters, a shrewd understanding of boxing technique, Amy Adams in short-shorts and yet another sublimely entertaining, ultracommitted performance from Mark Wahlberg, who, in his way, may just be America's most underappreciated movie star. Yes, Christian Bale's also very good as the crazy, drug-addled brother to Wahlberg's aspiring fighter, but I'm a little more drawn to the less technically polished fiery spunk of Wahlberg, Adams and Melissa Leo as the mother you wouldn't want to face in the ring.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

smart, at times exhilarating piece of entertainment, with rich characters, pithy exchanges, and a central performance so shot through with boyish smugness and wildly articulate spite it makes your nerves ache. To call it the 21st century's Citizen Kane isn't to equate Fincher with Orson Welles but rather to acknowledge that this film knows something about enterprise, opportunity, ambition and buckets of money, all wrapped up in an elegant achronological structure.

Tony Manero (dir: Pablo Larraín) It's Santiago, Chile, 1978, and there's blood on the dance floor. Literally. The terrors of life under Pinochet prompt some toward resignation and despair, others toward resistance, and a select few toward the recognition that destiny has granted them tacit permission to act out fantasies both heinous and tawdryglamorous. Pablo Larraín's deadpan character study, about a middle-aged guy who lives in a commune yet is chillingly antisocial, who just wants to transform himself into the hero of Saturday Night Fever on local television—at any costs—is also a study in vast, consuming darkness, in how evil proliferates, and in the secret perils of Hollywood disco fantasy.

A Prophet (dir: Jacques Audiard) Jacques Audiard's The Beat My Heart Skipped remade James Toback's seeth-

ingly creepy cult classic Fingers, so you know we're dealing with an artist ready to follow the most morally fraught criminal figures to the end of the line. The rough but basically innocent Arab youth imprisoned at the start of A Prophet kills another, seemingly benevolent Arab convict more or less by force. He thereafter spends the rest of this bracingly violent, quietly polemical, often surprising, not un-Scorsese-like crime drama figuring out what that makes him now. The power of Audiard's vision derives in part from its leaving viewers with the same question, and no simple answer in sight.

Shutter Island (dir: Martin Scorsese) Still more ambiguous is the nature of Leonardo DiCaprio's troubled visit to the Aschecliff Hospital for the Criminally Insane, located on an island in Boston Harbour almost perpetually cloaked in many kinds of fog. He's ostensibly there to investigate a disappearance, yet he's increasingly disinclined to trust any of his designated aids. The fabric of reality in Martin Scorsese's heavily stylized adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel seems as potentially unstable as those DiCaprio encountered just a few months later in Inception, but I have a feeling that time will prove Shutter Island to possess the more enduring mysteries. It already seems more genuinely dreamlike.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

The Kids Are All Right (dir: Lisa Cholodenko) Mark Ruffalo, Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson each gave one of my favourite performances of 2010, and the fact that all these performances occur within the same movie must say something about its director and co-writer, Lisa Cholodenko. Yet this warm, witty, sexy story of a family trying to sort out whose roles are whose and when it's time to let go is so supple and complicated as it sets up expectations and demolishes presumptions— about parenting, about desire, about gender, about lifestyle choices—that you can't help but feel like the film falls a little short of its goals with what's finally an oddly conservative, overly tidy finale.

I Am Love (dir: Luca Guadagnino) I don't know that you'd deem the finale of Italian director Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love tidy exactly, unless you call sweeping an unholy mountain of dirty dishes off the table to fall crashing ever so operatically onto the floor a method of tidying. A dual-homage to the films of Luchino Visconti and Douglas Sirk, with a little Lady Chatterley thrown in for extra spice, this is nonetheless an exemplary high-style melodrama about fleeing wealth and duty for haute cuisine and hot love amongst the

Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir: Banksy) Legendary mysterious street artist Banksy made a movie about a goofy French guy trying to make a movie about him, and it is the fucking funniest thing I've seen in ages. This documentary presumably takes a few liberties with facts on its way to a breezy but sly analysis of how art is commodified and everything gets domesticated sooner or later. But you could do worse than simply watching it for the unfathomably enthusiastic, sublimely inarticulate Thierry Guetta, aka Mr Brainwash, whose particular artistic limitations will refresh your notion of what "so bad it's good" means.

Tokyo Sonata (dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Has cinema ever experienced an about-face quite as successful as Kiyoshi Kurosawa's? He's helmed some of Japan's finest horror films of the last 15 years—Séance is especially creepy— but they started to get a little stale, so he tried on a poignant comedy about the strains of contemporary middle class family life, and it might just be the best thing he's done. Dad gets downsized, Mom's taken hostage, one kid joins the US military and the other has to save his lunch money to fund secret piano lessons. As with Kurosawa's Cure, there's a contagious disease driving the narrative, but in this case it causes those afflicted to want to start their lives over. Wonderful. V

Still reeling

Our Sidevue columinst favoured the year's best animation and foreign flicks Brian Gibson // brian@vueweekly.com

Beyond its hype-shift to 3-D, smelly zoo of talking-animal pictures, and slumming sequels, Hollywood still managed to bankroll some fine films. Pixar continues to astound, but the biggest surprise was the gripping, truth-blurring take on an Internet phenomenon just five years old—by a writer who hardly uses social media and a director

who usually helms shadowy thrillers.

Still, my top-ten's dominated—unlike most critics'—by animation and foreign films, the best of which (though I've yet to catch up with Another Year, Carlos, Marwencol, The Kids Are All Right, and Greenberg) was a demi-Godfather masterpiece from France. In our world of high-speed connection and 24/7 instanews, these films about social prisons and marginal lives tend to deal with exclusion.

Generation Gaps

mind César Luciani, along with textured, gritty attention to detail, from the bars of a police van to the sunlight that hits Malik's face and makes us feel the outside world is more dangerous for him than the prison-hell he's slowly sidling out of.

Jarrold's intensely moody instalment is visually the best, while Marsh's is the most sharply paced and written, but the entire trilogy's bleakness becomes strangely exhilarating in its dreaminess.

Toy Story 3 (dir: Lee Unkrich) "Kids' film"? Nope. Another prison film, with a sidetrip to hell, only this one offers wonderfully earned sentiment in the final moments of a classic trilogy. Woody, Buzz and co are, once again, toys that reflect back to us our inner children—only this time it's about leaving the child behind, letting go, and getting on with life. In the end, it's a wonderfully dark, adult escape from nostalgia.

Odd Family Units The Secret of the Grain (dir: Abdellatif Kechiche) A simmering stew of family, food and eroticism, Kechiche's 2007 film only reached us this year, by disc. Handheld camerawork and tense close-ups drop us into the frying pan of a Tunisian immigrant family's repressed problems,

the bureaucracy of a France that can't make outsiders feel entirely at home, personal pain unleashed in poignantly excruciating monologues, and the delectably fierce women at the heart of the clan. The build-up to opening night for a seaside couscous restaurant—the brainchild of the family's bowed-but not-beaten patriarch—makes for an almost unbearable final hour of waiting, watching, eating ... and a last-minute intervention of hypnotic proportions.

Dogtooth (dir: Yorgos Lanthimos) An essay-like idea—is family just a compound cult, its instincts and fears CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 >>

Pushing Art's Limits Mary and Max (dir: Adam Elliot) Claymation shows how flexible it is in the dark margins of alcoholism, death, depression and autism. The Australian's story of misfit pen-pals who forge a strangely wonderful connection has moments of wacky humour but constantly writes its way into Mary and Max's little lives with disarming tenderness and immediacy.

A Prophet

The Illusionist (dir: Sylvain Chomet) A seamless fusion of Jacques Tati's droll comic spirit with the whimsy of animation. This adaptation of Tati's screenplay whisks us through rainsoaked Scotland and into the fading career of a Monsieur Hulot-like magician. Even as the spell of his act wears off in a Europe besieged by the popmusic craze, Chomet weaves a charm around the beautiful power of deception. Paper turns to snow, an open book's breeze-brushed pages shadowflip on a wall, and 1960 Edinburgh unfurls before our eyes.

The Social Network (dir: David Fincher) From the opening bout of dialogue— exchanged as fast as instant-messaging—we're off and running (in Mark Zuckerberg's flip-flops) into a synapse-firing, back-stabbing, lifedraining look at the creation of Facebook by Zuckerberg. He programs his way to success, cockily ducking and shrugging off a world of foes

and faux-friends. Thanks to Aaron Sorkin's dialogue, dark spaces, Eisenberg's remarkable performance as the always-withdrawn tech-geek and Trent Reznor's score, the faint buzz of static, of white noise, lingers behind every scene. It's a hollow new world, endlessly refreshed.

Breaking Out A Prophet (dir: Jacques Audiard) After one of the most chilling, tense first half-hours in recent cinema, Audiard's prison drama—the best film of the year—glides effortlessly from that suspense to surreal moments, oblique insights into Arab assimilation in French society and the most plausible reluctant outsider's rise to crime-boss since Coppola's famous first two mob films—and all that in 140 minutes.

There are two scorching performances from lead Tahar Rahim as Malik and Niels Arestrup as Corsican master-

Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir: Banksy) Much like the art it documents, this film seems just a surface etching of a movement (graffiti-artists slipping through the night, building up the ephemeral street-art scene) for posterity's sake ... until the documenter, Thierry Guetta, becomes an artist. Even after that inside-out move, big questions—is art just in the eye of the beholder? what's the line between copying and creation? why is some art so trendy and commercially over-valued?—pop up among the study of a fascinatingly oddball, unselfconscious, overnight art-star.

Beautiful Nightmares Mother (dir: Joon-ho Bong) Much like Psycho from the POV of Bates' mother. A masterpiece of suspense where creeping moments of investigation grip with a clammy hold while bursts of emotion raise hackles.

As Mother (Hye-ja Kim) strives to clear her son's name, the film takes us on an odyssey of regression—from a cultured, dignified life back into a woman's wild, desperate maternal instinct.

Red Riding Trilogy (dir: Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker) A kind of nightmarish fable and fairytale noir drenched in Northern England police corruption, this trilogy drifts through three separate years— 1974, 1980, 1983—and peels back more of the graft and collusion each time.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

FILM // 41

STILL REELING

Fish Tank

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41

nurtured?—that defies summary but grows eerie and disturbing with fits of sex and spurts of violence. As the eldest child begins to rebel against the patriarch's teachings, the antiseptic look and odd camera angles add to the sense of an insular world gone awry, an unnatural Eden of strange innocents. The ending's tantalizing in its tilting of Pandora's box—when we expose ourselves to the world, rather than vice versa, what happens? (The film's only available on disc, due out late January.)

Style makes substance:

the next 10 best of '10 Brian Gibson // brian@vueweekly.com

Grindhouse, cheesy or campy cult movies, and B-movies usually splatter and slide along a surface gloss on genre tropes and plot conventions.

But 2010 was a year when lots of very good films—B+ movies—went beyond surface to style. And from that style, in a kind of virtuosic, postmodern play with form and genre—pushing them, poking them, swelling them, exploding them—out pulped a film of remarkable substance.

The best example may be a film not on this list, The Secret In Their Eyes (dir: Juan José Campanella). This Argentine winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film could've slipped into melodrama or telenovela with its frustrated romance. And its plot could've been a predictable rehash of crimeprocedural thrillers. But from early on, where a grisly murder scene burns itself into our mind and the mind of Benjamin Espósito (Ricardo Darín), the film melds passions—for love and truth, as unconsummated desire gets tangled up in an unsolved case—slowly cracking both open. The resolution skirts Poe or Dumas territory, and Campanella also swoops us down into the chaotic cauldron of a soccer stadium, in one of the best chase scenes in years (it took eight months to set up). Lovelorn noir turns into a heated, memorable investigation into 1970s Argentina's dirty dictatorship years.

So, without further ado and bidding adieu to 2010, here are my next 10 best (OK, 11) of last year's films.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul) A triumph of poetic tone and style, as I noted in my review, as Weerasethakul uncannily weaves the earthly and mythic; the Princess-and-the-pond story here is wondrous.

42 // FILM

Fish Tank (dir: Andrea Arnold) A remarkable reimagining of the British kitchen-sink film, with a young, hardened anti-heroine from whom our interest, and the camera's eye, never wavers. The near-fatal plot twist, which flares out of young Mia's (Kate Jarvis) anger, is the most terrifyingly plausible turn of the year.

continues to knot his tie, smooth out his shirts, and fix into place his impeccable public mask. But his fastidiousness and orderliness only cries out its opposite—all's come undone within him since losing his lover. Firth makes it wrenchingly clear that he's unable to come clean to anyone now, let alone himself, and he should've won the Best Actor Oscar simply for the wave of anguish that passes, in its crest and fall,

machine of subterfuges and revengeschemes. And it's not just the ingenious playing with noir films past or visual jokes (in one scene, some accidentally explosive sex is followed by the shellshocked, scorched lovers walking out into the world like a post-nuclear Adam and Eve into an atomized wasteland). What also makes Micmacs so remarkable is the rush towards sympathetic imagination (with the help of an

into you afterwards, haunting your memories of what just unfolded on-screen.

idealized YouTube)—where arms-dealing is beaten by outrage-sharing and all the Chaplinesque antics and farce pull the curtain back on the First World's use of the Third for cannon fodder.

The gold-hearted whore is a cliché, but the style alone, remaking the noir in the narrow stone alleys of an Italian hillside town and even in a haunted, riverside Eden, elevates the thriller into a fateful, secular tragedy, as one man's habit of solitude battles with his hope that one person, at least, can still be trusted.

The American (dir: Anton Corbijn) Corbijn turns this take on Martin Booth's Catholicism-concerned novel about a hitman into a film as careful, cautious, calibrating and tightly locked into place as the killer (George Clooney) himself, handcrafting a special gun for a client.

Fair Game (dir: Doug Liman) Unfairly overlooked, perhaps because of its seemingly dated political-ness, this film does an incredible job—mostly through whip-smart editing and Naomi Watts' keen performance—of making armrest-gripping drama out of the Plame-Wilson debacle, another smear on the Bush Administration. A crucial, fiesty reminder of our need to speak out.

Winter's Bone (dir: Debra Granik) and True Grit (dir: Joel and Ethan Coen) Both Granik's gothic drama and the Coens' western offer young heroines in the South (the Ozarks in Missouri or Arkansas, and Mississippi). Granik offers '70s-style filmmaking, with a dash of mythology (a chilling River Styx scene).

The Coens, adapting a comic novel full of fractious characters, senseless death, and one persistent, precocious 14-yearold, continue their dark-humoured pursuit of meaning in a seemingly meaningless, Godless world.

A Single Man (dir: Tom Ford) Ford's film seems to be all style—the fashion-designer even offers a blackand-white shot that seems out of a perfume ad. But aside from that one overwrought moment, the style here is a kind of elaborate, super-stylized gay esthetic, a sort of '60s-dandyishness that only masks George Falconer's (Colin Firth) emotional fragility. On the verge of slipping away from life, George

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

over his face when he learns of Jim's death over the phone.

Inside Job (dir: Charles Ferguson) Post-economic meltdown, Ferguson (No End in Sight) has organized a remarkably well-argued prosecution of Wall Street, leaving the final verdict and punishment up to us.

Micmacs à Tire-Larigot (dir: JeanPierre Jeunet) It's not just the remarkable compression of Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant's quirk-suppressed plot, which unloads like a spring-coiled Rube Goldberg

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Inception (dir: Christopher Nolan) About as excitingly cerebral as a summer blockbuster gets, plus some rapturous special effects. With four nesting-doll dream-plots opened up for us in a heistflick that blurs dream and reality (taking us down the rabbit-hole far more thrillingly than The Matrix), Inception is a wonder of style and scripting. The ride pushes us deeper into Nolan's intricate plotting, and the final screw-turn burrows back

Shutter Island (dir: Martin Scorsese) I surveyed the Hitchcockian touches of Scorsese and the almost lurid gothic dreamscape of Shutter Island in my review.

What's best about the film is how it plays on our own genre expectations of story; the set-up in our mind's eye is often more important than what's really out there. V

Burn at the stake

Season of the Witch has a puzzling stiltedness to it

Nicholas Cage, ready for a questionable witch-hunt Josef Braun // josef@vueweekly.com

A

fter experiencing an unexpected moment of moral clarity while thrusting his blade through the belly of some helpless woman during the smoky Battle of Smyrna, Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and his grizzled old infidel-slaying buddy Felson (Ron Perlman) resolve to quit the Crusades and return to a plague-ridden Europe where everybody everywhere speaks English and have gone without shampoo for longer than anyone can remember. Picked up by some eagle-eyed church cops for desertion, Behmen and Felson decide to take an escort gig rather than face execution.

Their destination is some remote mountain-top monastery, their cargo a wily teenager (Claire Foy) charged with single-handedly causing the Black Death via witchcraft.

Thing is, that accusation might just turn out to be entirely accurate, so you could say Season of the Witch starts out as a remake of The Seventh Seal, turns

into a Dungeons & Dragons module, pays homage to The Exorcist during its climactic supernatural showdown, while the whole thing could be interpreted as an apologia for the Inquisition, an implication exacerbated by the film's entirely superfluous, essentially unrelated prelude concerning a conscientious priest who gets iced by an accused witch whose death by hanging he oversaw earlier that same day.

But it might be grossly overestimating the ambitions of this project to presume any sort of polemic, even such an inanely misogynist one.

The reunion of Cage and Dominic Sena, who directed the actor in his remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, should have at least offered some super-stupid fun, but there's an almost puzzling stiltedness to Season of the Witch. Cage seems largely disinterested, even in the bits where he gets to bark or convey spells of post-traumatic stress disorder. Sena meanwhile seems to be lacking decent coverage for virtually every scene, so many of which end with lingering

close-ups of hammy reaction shots, that enduring convention of daytime soaps.

Scripter Bragi F Schut—not, from what I can tell, a pseudonym—resorts to medieval melodrama clichés and dialogue so comically leaden as to invoke Monty Python: "Damned fog. Like a veil before my eyes!"

But producers Alex Garter and Charles Roven should share some blame too, given that it looks like far too much of the film's relatively limited budget was spent on umpteen needless crane shots and abysmally poor CGI, which winds up gauzed over everything from splintering bridges to apparently supernatural wolves to vast History Channel battle scenes. The zombie monks shamble about like puppets—could they not have just used puppets? V Opening Friday Season of the Witch Directed by Dominic Sena Written by Bragi F Schut Starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman



VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

FILM // 43

COMMENT >> DVD

Blu-ray detective?

As formats change, films are getting richer repackagings Just as the rise in the digital consumpbut this feels representative of what's tion of music gradually prompted a most dynamic in cinema's present, and number of smart record labels to perhaps its future. Ossos ('97), In more seductively package and Vanda's Room ('00) and Cocarefully master CDs, not to lossal Youth ('06), in combimention a most welcome renation with the wealth of surgence in the production insightful supplementary kly.com of vinyl—if you're going to materials available in Criteriuewee v f@ jose seek out a tactile object to on's box, tell the story of how Josef contain your music, it might Portuguese filmmaker Pedro n u Bra as well be the most beautiful, Costa went from making what information-rich and sonically were already cool yet compassionsatisfying sort of object—the increase ate, funky yet formally elegant, non-diin the digital consumption of movies dactic yet socially conscious art films to seems to be encouraging some home something more akin to artisanal films, video distributors to put as much care the products of countless hours spent as possible into their physical releases, alone with just a camera, a microphone nearly all of which are now on an imand a reflector or two, quietly immersing pressive new format that may force himself in Lisbon's labyrinthine ghetto of us to change the name of this column.

Cabo Verdean immigrants—even though Below are the three multi-title DVD the place is destroyed by the end of In and/or Blu-ray collections I consider Vanda's Room. Somewhere between the best of 2010. What constitutes intimate reportage and epic fabulation, "the best"? I guess it's some mixture Costa's films draw to a substantial deof relevance, discovery value, quality gree upon the lives of the inhabitants of supplements, thoughtful packaging of Fontainhas, who are the films' stars, and most of all, curatorial verve. yet are equally imbued with mythical and poetic monologues and narratives— Letters From Fontainhas: Three Films one of which was inspired by John Ford.

by Pedro Costa (Criterion) In practice, Costa's isn't a model of filmThe other selections listed here are esmaking that many can or should follow, sentially celebrations of cinema's past, yet in spirit, his very personal approach

DVCD TIVE

DETE

44 // FILM

In Vanda's Room

sets a shining example that urges filmmakers to keep redefining what cinema is or can be.

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics Two (Sony) Film noir was the dark star of the studio era, the chiaroscuro chamber of repressed desire, and while many of its most celebrated examples burbled up from poverty row, the major studios caught on quickly and produced their own deluge of moody, twisted crime thrillers. Sony's sophomore attempt at luring noirophiles with its 1950s, transitional Columbia Pictures noirs is, like its predecessor, not entirely consistent, or even consistently noir, but its highlights are so outstanding as to demand plaudits. They include Fritz Lang's Human Desire ('54), based on Émile Zola's novel. It stars Glenn Ford as a Korean vet who returns home to resume his modest career as a train engineer, and Gloria Grahame as a doomed object of desire too genuinely mysterious, complex and desperate to fit the proscribed model of the femme fatale. It's a sensuous, sinster film bathed in industrial gloom, a striking alternative to the often brightly day-lit and thus ironically titled Nightfall ('57), a long-lost gem from director Jacques Tourneur, best known for his collaborations with low-budget horror producer Val Lewton. Based on a novel by David

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Goodis, Nightfall finds another young, physically strapping yet psychologically frail veteran on the run from the authorities and a couple of bank robbers, one of whom is a sadist very memorably embodied by Brian Keith.

America Lost and Found: the BBS Story (Criterion) The titles in Criterion's inspired box set chronicle the development of BBS, the production company that perhaps best represents the promise of the 1970s New Hollywood, the death throes of the studio era and the American cinema's response

faction. In no less than six of the seven films here it offers a beat-by-beat tracking of the ascendancy to stardom of one thirtysomething hyphenate named Jack Nicholson. And for all the dissatisfaction noted above, I should add that there's a lot of fun, adventure, formal provocation and plain old audacity too. Did I forget to mention Easy Rider ('69)?

Of the many excellent single-film releases I was able to catch up with in 2010, in particular, those not previously easy to find on DVD or Blu-ray, the most noteworthy included Kino's Complete

The increase in the digital consumption of movies seems to be encouraging some home video distributors to put as much care as possible into their physical releases. to the Vietnam War and the French New Wave. In Five Easy Pieces ('70) and The King of Marvin Gardens ('72), it offers director Bob Rafelson's finest character studies of dissatisfied masculinity. In Henry Jaglom's A Safe Place ('71) and Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show ('71), it offers a pair of very, very different yet mutually tender and fascinated attempts by young, wildly ambitious male directors to investigate female dissatis-

Metropolis ('27), Criterion's Paris, Texas ('84), Red Desert ('64), Close-Up ('90), Vivre sa vie ('62), House ('77) and Bigger Than Life ('56), and a whole bunch of forgotten titles and cult classics now available in no-frills, special order-only packages from the Warner Archive Collection, among them Brainstorm ('65), a wonderfully bizarre study in genius and madness directed by veteran character actor William Conrad. V

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SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) Dolby Stereo Digital DAILY 12:10, 2:35, 5:10, 7:35, 10:10

TRON: LEGACY 3D (PG) Digital 3d, Stadium Seating DAILY 12:20, 3:20, 7:05, 10:05

DUGGAN CINEMA�CAMROSE 6601-48 Ave, Camrose, 780.608.2144

YOGI BEAR (G) 3D DAILY 7:05; SAT�SUN 2:05 GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) DAILY 7:10, 9:15; SAT� SUN: 2:10

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 6:45, 9:20; SAT�SUN 1:15 THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) DAILY 9:05 LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for small children) DAILY 6:50, 9:00; SAT�SUN 1:50

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) DAILY 7:00,

9:10; SAT�SUN 2:00

GALAXY�SHERWOOD PARK 2020 Sherwood Dr, Sherwood Park 780-416-0150

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) FRI 4:30, 7:15,

9:55; Sat-Sun 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55; MON�THU 7:15, 9:55

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) FRI 4:05, 6:40, 9:15; SAT� SUN 1:40, 4:05, 6:40, 9:15; MON�THU 6:40, 9:15

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recom-

Digital 3d FRI�TUE, THU 12:50, 3:40, 6:40, 9:20; WED 12:50, 3:40, 10:00

THE KING'S SPEECH (PG language may offend) DAILY 12:40, 3:20, 6:30, 9:15 THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) FRI, MON� THU 1:45, 4:30, 7:40, 10:20; SAT 4:30, 7:40, 10:20; SUN 1:45, 7:40, 10:20

BLACK SWAN (14A sexual content, disturbing

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for young children) DTS Digital, Stadium Seating DAILY 12:25, 2:55, 5:25, 7:55, 10:25 NATIONAL THEATRE: FELA! (Classification not available) Exclusive Engagement, Stadium Seating THU 8:00

CLAREVIEW 10 4211-139 Ave, 780.472.7600

content, not recommended for children) DAILY 12:30, 3:30, 6:45, 9:30

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HAL� LOWS: PART 1 (PG frightening scenes, violence,

TANGLED 3D (G) Digital 3d DAILY 1:20, 3:50, 7:15, 9:40 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 (PG frightening scenes, violence, not recom-

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (PG frightening scenes) Digital

mended for young children) DAILY 1:30, 4:50, 8:15

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST (Classification not available) SAT 11:00 LA PHIL LIVE: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN (Classification not available) SUN 3:00 A STAR IS BORN (STC) WED 6:30

CINEPLEX ODEON SOUTH 1525-99 St, 780.436.8585

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) FRI�

SAT 11:30, 1:45, 4:00, 6:15, 8:30, 10:50; SUN�THU 1:15, 3:30, 5:45, 8:00, 10:15

COUNTRY STRONG (PG coarse language, sub-

stance abuse) FRI�SAT 11:45, 2:30, 5:15, 8:00, 10:45; SUN�MON, WED 1:30, 4:20, 7:05, 9:45; TUE 1:30, 4:20, 7:05, 9:40; THU 4:20, 7:05, 9:45

not recommended for young children) FRI 4:50, 8:00; SAT�SUN 1:20, 4:50, 8:00; MON�THU 4:45, 7:50 3d FRI 3:40, 6:30, 9:10; SAT�SUN 1:00, 3:40, 6:30, 9:10; MON�THU 4:40, 7:45

THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) FRI 4:10, 6:35,

9:15; SAT�SUN 1:25, 4:10, 6:35, 9:15; MON�THU 5:30, 8:05

TANGLED (G) FRI 4:15, 6:50; SAT�SUN 1:40, 4:15,

6:50; MON�THU 5:20

THE FIGHTER (14A, coarse language, substance

THE FIGHTER (14A coarse language, substance abuse)

FRI 4:10, 7:20, 10:05; SAT�SUN 1:20, 4:10, 7:20, 10:05; MON� THU 7:20, 10:05

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER 3D (PG frightening scenes)

9:35; SAT�SUN 12:50, 3:50, 6:45, 9:35; MON�THU 5:00, 8:00

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for young children) FRI 4:30, 7:20, 9:50; SAT�SUN 1:50, 4:30, 7:20, 9:50; MON�THU 5:40, 8:30

11:45, 2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00, 11:15; SUN�TUE, THU 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:45, 9:45; WED 1:00, 4:00, 9:45

recommended for young children) FRI�SAT 11:30, 1:45, 4:00, 6:15, 8:30, 10:50; SUN�WED 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00; THU 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:20

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) FRI 12:30, 3:00, 5:45, 8:25,

11:00; SAT 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:25, 11:00; SUN�WED 1:45, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30; THU 1:45, 4:15, 7:10, 10:00

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) FRI 4:00, 6:40, 9:30; SAT� SUN 1:10, 4:00, 6:40, 9:30; MON�THU 5:10, 8:20

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) FRI 4:40, 7:15, 9:45; SAT�SUN 1:45, 4:40, 7:15, 9:45; MON�THU 5:45, 8:35

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15 YOGI BEAR 3D (G) Digital 3d FRI�SUN 12:00, 2:10, 4:20,

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recom-

6:30, 9:00; MON�THU 2:00, 4:15, 6:30, 9:00

TRON: LEGACY 3D (PG) Digital 3d DAILY 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30

THE FIGHTER (14A coarse language, substance abuse)

mended for young children) DTS Digital FRI 7:15, 9:45; SAT�SUN 12:30, 3:10, 7:15, 9:45; MON�THU 5:30, 8:30

TANGLED (G) DTS Digital FRI 7:00, 9:35; SAT�SUN 1:15, 3:50, 7:00, 9:35; Mon-Thu 5:10, 8:10

WETASKIWIN CINEMAS Wetaskiwin, 780.352.3922

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) SAT�SUN 1:10,

3d FRI�SUN 12:30, 3:20, 6:40, 9:30; MON�THU 1:15, 4:00, 6:40, 9:30

4:10, 7:15, 10:00; SAT, WED 4:10, 7:15, 10:00; THU 1:15, 4:10, 10:00; Star & Strollers Screening: WED 1:00

TANGLED (G) FRI�WED 1:00, 3:40, 6:45, 9:20; THU 1:00,

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 7:00, 9:40; SAT�SUN LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recomGULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) DAILY 7:05, 9:35; SAT�SUN 1:05, 3:35

3:40, 6:45

Digital 3d FRI 3:30, 6:45, 9:30; SAT�SUN 12:50, 3:30, 6:45, 9:30; MON�THU 6:45, 9:30

TANGLED (G) FRI 4:35, 7:10, 9:35; SAT�SUN 2:05, 4:35, 7:10, 9:35; MON�THU 7:10, 9:35 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS:

PART 1 (PG frightening scenes, violence, not recommended for young children) FRI 3:15, 6:30, 9:50; SAT�SUN 2:30, 6:30, 9:50; MON�THU 8:00

GARNEAU 8712-109 St, 780.433.0728

BLACK SWAN (14A sexual content, disturbing content,

not recommended for children) DAILY 6:50, 9:10; SAT�SUN 2:00

GRANDIN THEATRE�ST ALBERT

Grandin Mall, Sir Winston Churchill Ave, St Albert, 780.458.9822

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for young children) No passes DAILY 1:35, 3:35, 5:35, 7:30, 9:20

YOGI BEAR (G) No passes DAILY 12:55, 2:35, 6:55 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 (PG frightening scenes, violence, not recom-

mended for young children) DAILY 4:15, 8:30

HOW DO YOU KNOW (PG coarse language) DAILY 1:25, 3:55, 6:45, 9:00 6:00, 7:40, 9:20

LEDUC CINEMAS Leduc, 780.352.3922

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) SAT�SUN 1:10,

3:25; DAILY 7:10, 9:25

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 7:00, 9:35; SAT�SUN

1:00, 3:35

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for young children) SAT�SUN 12:55, 3:30; DAILY 6:55, 9:30

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) DAILY 7:05, 9:35; SAT�SUN 1:05, 3:35

METRO CINEMA 9828-101A Ave, Citadel Theatre, 780.425.9212

CODEBREAKERS (STC) FRI 7:00 IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE (STC) SAT 7:00 WHAT IS IT? (STC) SUN 7:00 PARKLAND CINEMA 7 130 Century Crossing, Spruce Grove, 780.972.2332 (Spruce Grove, Stony Plain; Parkland County)

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) DAILY 7:20,

9:35; SAT�SUN, TUE 1:40, 4:00

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recommended for young children) DAILY 7:30, 9:45; SAT�SUN, TUE 1:30, 3:40

2:00, 4:20

TRON: LEGACY 3D (PG) Digital 3d FRI 3:50, 6:45,

THE FIGHTER (14A, coarse language, substance abuse) Dolby Stereo Digital FRI 6:45, 9:25; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:25, 6:45, 9:25; MON�THU 5:20, 8:20

mended for young children) SAT�SUN 12:55, 3:30; DAILY 6:55, 9:30

SAT�SUN 12:45, 3:45, 6:50, 9:45; MON�THU 6:50, 9:45

YOGI BEAR 3D (G) Digital 3d FRI 4:25, 7:10, 9:25; SAT�SUN 2:00, 4:25, 7:10, 9:25; MON�THU 4:50, 7:40

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) Digital 3d FRI�SAT

mended for young children) FRI�TUE, THU 1:40, 4:15, 7:10, 9:40; WED 4:15, 7:10, 9:40; Star & Strollers Screening: WED 1:00

THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) FRI, SUN�TUE 1:15,

TRON: LEGACY 3D (PG) Digital 3d FRI 3:45, 6:50, 9:45;

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 7:00, 9:30; SAT�SUN, TUE 1:10, 3:30

SUN 9:20; MON�THU 8:10

9:10; Sat-Sun 1:00, 3:40, 6:30, 9:10; MON�THU 5:00, 8:00

1:00, 3:40

SUN 1:50, 4:15, 7:00, 9:20; MON�THU 7:00, 9:20

abuse) FRI 4:20, 7:00, 9:40; SAT�SUN 1:30, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40; MON�THU 5:25, 8:15

HOW DO YOU KNOW (PG coarse language) FRI�

111 Ave, Groat Rd, 780.455.8726

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) Dolby Stereo Digital FRI 6:30,

3:25; DAILY 7:10, 9:25

TANGLED (G) DAILY 1:00, 3:05, 5:10, 7:00, 8:55

Stadium Seating DAILY 12:40, 3:40, 6:40, 9:40

available) THU 8:00

WESTMOUNT CENTRE

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER 3D (PG frightening scenes) Digital

THE FIGHTER (14A, coarse language, substance

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER 3D (PG frightening scenes)

LITTLE FOCKERS (PG crude sexual content, not recom-

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST (Classification not available) SAT 11:00 NATIONAL THEATRE: FELA! (Classification not

DAILY 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00

TRON: LEGACY 3D (PG) Ultraavx DAILY 1:15,

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (PG frightening scenes) Digital 3d,

2:20, 4:40, 6:50, 9:10; MON�WED 2:10, 4:40, 6:50, 9:10; THU 2:10, 4:40, 9:30

mended for young children) FRI�SUN 12:00, 3:15, 6:30, 10:10; MON�THU 1:00, 4:30, 8:00

YOGI BEAR 3D (G) Digital 3d FRI 4:15, 7:00, 9:20; SAT�

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) DAILY 12:45, 2:30, 4:15,

FRI�WED 1:40, 4:20, 7:30, 10:10; THU 1:40, 4:20, 10:10

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (PG) Digital 3d FRI�SUN 12:10,

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 (PG frightening scenes, violence, not recom-

2:00, 4:40, 7:30, 10:10; MON�THU 7:30, 10:10

Stadium Seating FRI�WED 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:50, 10:30; THU 12:05, 2:40, 10:20

abuse) DTS Digital, Stadium Seating DAILY 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30

abuse) FRI�SUN 12:50, 3:50, 7:00, 9:50; MON�THU 1:10, 3:50, 7:00, 9:50

TRON: LEGACY: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE (PG)

THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) DTS Digital,

4:10, 7:20, 10:15

COUNTRY STRONG (PG coarse language, substance

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) FRI 4:40, 7:30, 10:10; SAT�SUN

TRUE GRIT (14A violence) DAILY 1:10, 4:15, 7:00, 9:45 YOGI BEAR 3D (G) Digital 3d DAILY 12:45, 3:10,

THE FIGHTER (14A coarse language, substance abuse)

SEASON OF THE WITCH (14A violence) FRI�SUN 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20; MON�THU 2:15, 5:00, 7:50, 10:20

DAILY 1:50, 4:50, 7:40, 10:30

HOW DO YOU KNOW (PG coarse language) DTS

6:50, 9:00

WEM, 8882-170 St, 780.444.2400

mended for young children) FRI 4:00, 7:05, 9:40; SAT�SUN 1:15, 4:00, 7:05, 9:40; MON�THU 7:05, 9:40

recommended for young children) FRI�TUE, THU 1:50, 5:00, 7:45, 10:25; WED 5:00, 7:45, 10:25; Star & Strollers Screening: WED 1:00

Digital, Stadium Seating FRI�TUE 12:55, 3:55, 6:55, 9:55; WED 12:55, 3:55, 9:55; THU 12:55, 3:55, 6:55

SCOTIABANK THEATRE WEM

YOGI BEAR 3D (G) DAILY 6:30, 8:45; SAT�SUN, TUE YOGI BEAR 2D (G) SAT�SUN, TUE 1:00, 3:20 THE TOURIST (PG coarse language) DAILY 7:10, 9:40; TANGLED (G) DAILY 6:50, 9:00; SAT�SUN TUE 1:50, 4:10 CHRONICLES OF NARNIA�VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (PG frightening scenes) DAILY 6:50,

9:10; SAT�SUN, TUE 1:20, 3:50

PRINCESS 10337-82 Ave, 780.433.0728

127 HOURS (14A gory scenes, disturbing content) DAILY

7:00, 9:00; SAT�SUN 2:30

MADE IN DAGENHAM (14A coarse language) DAILY

6:50, 9:10; SAT�SUN 2:00

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

FILM // 45

MUSIC Ted Wright // TWRIGHT@VUEWEEKLY.COM

T

ed Wright, currently of Edmonton's the Get Down, formerly of Les Tabernacles and about a zillion other bands, sifts through the rubble of what he says was a, um, lacklustre year and picks out a few gems from the stage and the stereo.

What a shit year for rock. If you had asked me what I thought was incredible in 2009, well, that would have been an ear full. It seems there's a two-year wait on most bands right now. That being said, there was still plenty worth talking about. For instance (in no particular order, other than the manner in which my memory serves): 10) Deadbolt. Need I go on? Sparks aimed at crotches, Blue Velvet references, and odes to truck-drivin' sons of bitches and killing hippies. My kind of band. Plus a frontman with mile-deep reverb and vocals to match, and a lot of gum-chewing. The invisible kind. Quite a lot of it. If you weren't there, man, you wouldn't understand.

David Berry // david@vueweekly.com

F

rom his new perch in Toronto, Vue's recently departed staff writer David Berry peers back upon 2010 and singles out his picks for best albums and songs.

1. Beach House, Teen Dream Victoria Legrand's voice would bleed emotion even without the grandiose-in-scopebut-understated-in-execution space that she and Alex Scally create on Teen Dream. Combined, they're a force that's devastating, no matter which particular way they're trying to take you. Teen Dream is at times about loss, at times about love, at times about some haunting and gorgeous space in between, but it is first and foremost an album of epic and unrestrained feeling—not so unlike being a teenager, where the freshness of experience gives everything an overwhelming power.

2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Before Today The reason Ariel Pink's brand of pop deconstruction works where so many others sound laborious is because he manages to fulfil all your expectations even as he's subverting them. Before Today is engrossing well before you realize what's going on, and it gets eight miles deep without ever

46 // MUSIC

losing sight of its shimmering surface.

3. LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening Whether it's a song about the benefits of different perspectives ("Pow Pow") or just James Murphy's uncanny ability to infuse a dance anthem with hard-won-but-ecstatic wisdom ("All I Want"), This is Happening proved that the DFA genius still hasn't lost his edge—or at least has done it in the most interesting, elated way possible.

4. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty Conventional wisdom was that Antwan Patton—whatever he wants you to call him—was the propulsive, street-ready yin to André Benjamin's loopy and esoteric yang, but Big Boi delivered some of the finest work of his already sterling career by tromping all over the map in true Outkast style. The production is every bit as layered and expansive as the duo's best work, and is pushed into a whole other level by a full-on lyrical assault from Patton, who uses enough in-and-out wordplay and rhythmic bravado to put an entire poetry anthology to shame.

5. Caribou, Swim Dan Snaith managed to expand both his emotional and sonic palettes considerably on

Swim, and he hardly limited his scope before. Swim can seem melancholy, celebratory, mopey and effusive in one phrase, and in its entirety is some mercurial, elusive thing that's capable of swallowing you whole even as it rushes away from what you've come to expect.

15 great songs from bands that didn't make the top five (and one from late 2009 that I didn't hear in time for last year): Wild Nothing, "Summer Holiday" Pop Winds, "Feel It" Jom Comyn, "New Raincoat" Gobble Gobble, "Wrinklecarver" Woods, "Suffering Season" Cee-Lo Green, "Fuck You!" Dum Dum Girls, "Bhang Bhang, I'm a Burnout" The Tallest Man on Earth, "The King of Spain" Sans AIDS, "Got Ideas" Aloe Blacc, "I Need a Dollar" The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio" The Provincial Archive, "Art Museums and Tourist Traps" Bronze Leaf, "Text Exit" Kumon Plaza, "Hans Kruger" Male Bonding, "Year's Not Long" 2009 Edition: Brazilian Money, "Ghetto Lungs, GET ALONG NOW" V

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

9) Those Guys from Last Night. Take four parts Canadian rock band, subtract one guy who didn't show up, and add in another, and whattaya got? Probably the smelliest and fucked-uppest dudes I saw this year. No shit, Joe Wartenkin should shower more often and wear less of those acid-wash tights that were hot (?) (popular with Northside chicks?) for five seconds. The band jammed it econo on cassette and don't give a fuck about you.

8) Barnburner. Killing the stony side of the street, BB make me wanna smoke some kind of dope, practise my metal licks and slide them between a sandwich of Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath, although I'm still unsure that I can trust a Montréal band who's never heard Tricky Woo. Excellent live band and great tone to boot—Kevin Keegan's physical exaggerations take the piss out of every stony-faced growler who cuts himself in his mom's Millwoods basement. If you didn't see them this summer, you're an idiot.

7) I got an idea-let's form a band around a love for motorcycles and write all the tunes about said pastime! Fuck, the Vicious Cycles from Vancouver already did it ... Yeah, my brother plays in the band—so what? They fucking ruled live (with Knucklehead at one of the last New City gigs) and released the motorboogieing "Momma" seven-inch this year. Get to the chopper!

6) Early Man, Death Potion. Released this year, another slab of early New York-metal-inspired thrash. If early Anthrax gives you a bit of a boner the way it does me, then go get some. The band's expanded from the first bass-player free zone of "Closing In" to a full band and, as

rumour has it, will return to Edmonton in February.

5) Bruce Springsteen, The Promise.

I'm pretty sure that this guy has more unreleased shit than Prince. Outtakes, unfinished and then finally finished works from the post-Born to Run and into Darkness on the Edge of Town era. I can see why some of the tunes didn't make the cut, and I'm surprised at others that didn't as well. Not the most even set of tunes, but for any fan of the Boss, it's diggable.

4) Punk Rock Karaoke at the Artery.

Holy fuck! I know this doesn't really fall into the "live" category, but if you weren't there, you're still kicking yourself. For instance, a 6'7" red-haired mongoloid screaming out "Uncontrollable Urge"

by Devo at the top of his lungs? For one sweet shining moment, a few lucky souls were in a band with those guys one time, y'know? Like that dude that always reminds you of his old punk band at parties. "We were there, man, we had it all ... " Everyone had a party that night. It was for the Kids.

3) Sled Island in the Plaza w/the Bronx, Nomeansno, Big Business and the Melvins. Yeah nerds, I know the night before at the Republik was the most ball-tingling show ever, but some of us have to work. So Pat and I drive down next day on good authority that the show in Olympic Plaza is free.

Right, and so is love. We get there, and not only was said authority dead wrong about half an hour out of Calgary, but there're also fucking gates around the whole place. We stalk a van that's obviously a band, scam one wristband and then turn chickenshit passing it back and forth between the gate mesh. So I ask around multiple times pre-show, even beg the Bronx through a half-inch slit in the hospitality tent, and no dice. So I'm talking to Hank from Edmonton, standing right near a gate opening and unbeknownst to me, I walk in the gate by total accident to bum a smoke. The Bronx start banging it, and like that, I'm in.

2) C'mon, Beyond the Pale Horse. I don't understand how to write songs this good. It eludes me yet. Sweet rawk nuggets drenched in harmonized fuzz guitar, Stooges one-note piano and (not the director) Herzog. Tags are a hopeless way to categorize these folks—let's just call them about the best kind of rock and roll this side of Fandango!. There's also a good sprinkling of breakup tunes on this one, but you'd never know if I didn't say anything.

1) The Fucking Lottery. If Cursed had a hardcore baby with, oh, I don't know, BTO, it might sound exactly like you think it sounds. New favourite band for sure, and they even live here. Plus, they have Tom Kerr on drums.

Thanks for coming out. V

MUSIC NOTES

Deep Freeze / Sat, Jan 8 – Sun, Jan 9 Not quite ready to give up the celebrations of the holidays? You can keep it going at Alberta Avenue's Byzantine celebration of the Julian Calendar's New Year, featuring performances by Le Fuzz on Saturday

BRYAN BIRTLES // BRYAN@vueweekly.com

and Allez Ouest on Sunday. Sunday is, in fact, given over to the holiday tradtions of French Canada and features tourtière, tarte au sucre and a cabane á sucre. Visit artsontheave.org for more info and showtimes. (Alberta Avenue)

Brenna MacQuarrie / Sat, Jan 8 (9 pm) Having been performing since she was eight years old, it's been a long time coming for Brenna MacQuarrie to release HYBRID, her debut album, this weekend at Brixx. Jazz-influenced and soul-soaked, MacQuarrie wrote the material for HYBRID while finishing a program at Totronto's Humber College in contemporary and jazz music. (Brixx Bar & Grill, $12) Grant MacEwan Showcase Band / Fri, Jan 7 (7:30 pm) Grant MacEwan's Showcase Band plays its one and only concert of the season this Friday. Featuring music as varied as Aerosmith and Jacob Pastorius, the Showcase Band is one of Grant MacEwan's fabled arts program's best-loved outings. (John L Haar Theatre, $9.50 – $11.50)

Fuji Hakayito / Sat, Jan 8 (7 pm) British Columbia's Fuji Hakayito is doing an 18-day tour in which the band plans to play 18 shows. I say "plans" because what the group is planning is crazy.

Crazy on a fine day in June and even crazier in the dead of a Canadian winter. On a perfect day, the distance between most cities on the Prairies and in Northern Ontario is five to eight hours, never mind what kind of psychosis-inducing length of time the band will be cooped up in a van crawling along on winter roads between Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Wish the group well at its show in Edmonton. (Wunderbar)

PREVUE WATCH CARRIE DAY AT THE VUE WEEKLY STUDIO vueweekly.com/vuetube

Carrie Day Thu, Jan 6 (7 pm) / That's Aroma (11010 - 101 St), free Fri, Jan 7 (8:30 pm) / Glenora Bistro, $10

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

MUSIC // 47

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

THU JAN 6 ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE folk/jazz/pop/singer-songwriter live music Thu; 9:30pm11:30pm; no minors; no cover AVENUE THEATRE Five Dollar Thursdays: Etown Beatdown, MVCP, Randy Graves; all ages; 7:30pm (door); $5 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Thom Golub Trio; $8/$5 (with student ID), last set free

J AND R Classic rock! Woo! Open stage, play with the house band every Thu; 9pm JAMMERS PUB Thu open jam; 7-11pm JEFFREY'S CAFÉ Circles (jazz); $10 L.B.'S PUB Thu open jam with Kenny Skoreyko, Fred Larose and Gordy Mathews (Shaved Posse); 9pm-1am LEVA CAFÉ Omar and the Bear; 8-10pm

BLUES ON WHYTE King Muskafa

LIVE WIRE BAR Open Stage Thu with Gary Thomas

BOHEMIA Avant en garde (experimental jazz); 8pm

MARYBETH'S COFFEE HOUSE�Beaumont Open Mic Thu; 7pm

BRIXX BAR Radio Brixx: rock and roll with Tommy Grimes; 8pm; no cover CAFÉ HAVEN GB Roots; 7pm CARROT CAFÉ Zoomers Thu afternoon Open mic; 1-4pm COLAHAN'S Back-porch jam with Rock-Steady Freddy and the Bearcat; every Thu 8pmmidnight CHRISTOPHER'S PARTY PUB Open stage hosted by Alberta Crude; 6-10pm CROWN PUB Crown Pub Latin/ world fusion jam hosted by Marko Cerda; musicians from other musical backgrounds are invited to jam; 7pm-closing DUSTER'S PUB Thu open jam hosted by the Assassins of Youth (blues/rock); 9pm; no cover

NAKED CYBER CAFÉ Open stage; every Thu, 9pm; no cover NORTH GLENORA HALL Jam by Wild Rose Old Time Fiddlers RIC’S GRILL Peter Belec (jazz); every Thu; 7-10pm RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Cold Rose, Haley Myrol; $5 SECOND CUP�Varscona Live music every Thu night; 7-9pm WILD BILL’S�Red Deer TJ the DJ every Thu and Fri; 10pm-close WILD WEST SALOON Billy Ringo

CHROME LOUNGE Every Thu: 123 Ko CENTURY ROOM Underground House every Thu with DJ Nic-E COMMON LOUNGE Thu night residency-Boom the box (Allout djs) THE DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every Thu at 9pm FILTHY MCNASTY’S Punk Rock Bingo with DJ S.W.A.G. FLUID LOUNGE Girls Night out FUNKY BUDDHA�Whyte Ave Requests with DJ Damian GAS PUMP Ladies Nite: Top 40/dance with DJ Christian HALO Thu Fo Sho: with Allout DJs DJ Degree, Junior Brown KAS BAR Urban House: with DJ Mark Stevens; 9pm LUCKY 13 Sin Thu with DJ Mike Tomas NEW CITY LEGION Good Good Things Thu: with Schnaw and Squirrelly B; 4pm-3am; 9pm (DJs); no cover ON THE ROCKS Salsaholic Thu: Dance lessons at 8pm; Salsa DJ to follow RENDEZVOUS PUB Mental Thurzday with org666 SPORTSWORLD Roller Skating Disco: Thu Retro Nights; 7-10:30pm; sportsworld.ca STOLLI'S Dancehall, hip hop with DJ Footnotes hosted by Elle Dirty and ConScience every Thu; no cover TAPHOUSE�St Albert Eclectic mix with DJ Dusty Grooves every Thu

FRI JAN 7 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Samantha Schultz; 8pm; $15

DJs

BLUES ON WHYTE King Muskafa

THE DOCKS Thu night rock and metal jam

BILLY BOB’S LOUNGE Escapack Entertainment

DV8 Open mic Thu hosted

by Cameron Penner/ and/or Rebecca Jane

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Big Rock Thu: DJs on 3 levels– Topwise Soundsystem spin Dub & Reggae in The Underdog

BRIXX BAR Psynight, Martian Static, Kundalini Rising, guests; 9pm (door)

HAVEN SOCIAL CLUB The Translators, Justine Vandergrift, Ben Folkman; 7:30pm (door); $10 (door) HOOLIGANZ Open stage Thu hosted by Phil (Nobody Likes Dwight); 9pm-1:30am

CARROT Live music Fri: Daylan Wizniuk; all ages; 7pm; $5 (door)

Stage every Fri; 9:30pm DV8 What Grace?, Me Next and The Have Nots, Cerulean Shakedown; 9pm-12 EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ Maria Dunn; benefit concert for Wawa Wasi; 7:30pm; $20 (adv at YEGlive.ca)/$25 (door)

DJs 180 DEGREES Skinou *Wear*Red* Fri: with Femcee DJ Eden Lixx AZUCAR PICANTE Every Fri: DJ Papi and DJ Latin Sensation

HAVEN SOCIAL CLUB The Marv Machura Band with Jon Bryant, Blake Paul; 7:30pm (door); $10 (door)

BANK ULTRA LOUNGE Connected Fri: 91.7 The Bounce, Nestor Delano, Luke Morrison

IRISH CLUB Jam session; 8pm; no cover

BAR�B�BAR DJ James; no cover

IVORY CLUB Duelling piano show with Jesse, Shane, Tiffany and Erik and guests

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Fri DJs spin Wooftop and Main Floor: Eclectic jams with Nevine–indie, soul, motown, new wave, electro; Underdog: Perverted Fri: Punk and Ska from the ‘60s ‘70s and ‘80s with Fathead

JEKYLL AND HYDE PUB Every Fri: Headwind (classic pop/rock); 9pm; no cover JOHN L. HAAR THEATRE Grant MacEwan University's Showcase Band Concert (one led by Bill Richards; the other led by Allan Gilliland); tickets at TIX on the Square LIZARD LOUNGE Rock 'n' roll open mic; every Fri, 8:30pm ; no cover MEAD HALL Awaken The Abstract, Dead As December, Before The Fire; 9pm-2:30am; no minors; $8 NEW CITY LEGION Sick XXIII: A Night Of Hard Industrial; 9pm ON THE ROCKS Bad Judgement, DJs RED PIANO BAR Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players; 9pm-2am RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Russian Guitar Phenomenon Arsen Shomakov; $15 STARLITE ROOM Desousa Drive, Radioflyer, Scantilly Clad and The Well Dressed Men; 9pm (door), $12 STEEPS�Old Glenora Live Music Fri WILD BILL’S�Red Deer TJ the DJ every Thu and Fri; 10pm-close WILD WEST SALOON Billy Ringo WOK BOX Fri with Breezy Brian Gregg; 3:30-5:30pm

BRIXX BAR Radio Brixx with Tommy Grimes spinning rock and roll

CASINO EDMONTON Colleen Rae and Cornerstone

Classical

BUDDY'S Thu Men’s Wet Underwear Contest with DJ Phon3 Hom3; 9pm (door); no cover before 10pm

CASINO YELLOWHEAD Robin Kelly COAST TO COAST Open

MUTTART HALL–Alberta College Boulez is Alive: Aventa Ensemble; 8pm; $20/$10

BAR WILD Bar Wild Fri

BLACKSHEEP PUB Fri Bash: DJ spinning retro to rock classics to current BUDDY’S Fri: DJ Arrow Chaser; 8pm (door); no cover before 10pm CENTURY ROOM Underground House every Fri with DJ Nic-E CHROME LOUNGE Platinum VIP Fri THE DRUID IRISH PUB DJ every Fri at 9pm EMPIRE BALLROOM Rock, hip hop, house, mash up; no minors ESMERELDA'S Ezzies Freakin Frenzy Fri: Playing the best in country FUNKY BUDDHA�Whyte Ave Top tracks, rock, retro with DJ Damian GAS PUMP Top 40/dance with DJ Christian JUNCTION BAR AND EATERY LGBT Community: Rotating DJs Fri and Sat; 10pm NEWCASTLE PUB Fri House, dance mix with DJ Donovan REDNEX�Morinville DJ Gravy from the Source 98.5 RED STAR Movin’ on Up Fri: indie, rock, funk, soul, hip hop with DJ Gatto, DJ Mega Wattson ROUGE LOUNGE Solice Fri SPORTSWORLD Roller Skating Disco Fri Nights; 7-10:30pm; sports-world.ca STOLLI’S Top 40, R&B, house with People’s DJ TEMPLE Options with Greg Gory and Eddie Lunchpail

VENUE GUIDE 180 DEGREES 10730-107 St, 780.414.0233 ACCENT EUROPEAN LOUNGE 8223-104 St, 780.431.0179 ALBERTA AVENUE COMMUNITY CENTRE 9210118 Ave AVENUE THEATRE 9030-118 Ave, 780.477.2149 AXIS CAFÉ 10349 Jasper Ave, 780.990.0031 BANK ULTRA LOUNGE 10765 Jasper Ave, 780.420.9098 BILLY BOB’S Continental Inn, 16625 Stony Plain Rd, 780.484.7751 BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 10425-82 Ave, 780.439.1082 BLACKSHEEP PUB 11026 Jasper Ave, 780.420.0448 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ 9624-76 Ave, 780.989.2861 BLUE PEAR RESTAURANT 10643-123 St, 780.482.7178 BLUES ON WHYTE 10329-82 Ave, 780.439.3981 BOHEMIA 10575-114 St BRIXX BAR 10030-102 St (downstairs), 780.428.1099 BUDDY’S 11725B Jasper Ave, 780.488.6636 CAFÉ HAVEN 9 Sioux Rd, K`]jogg\ HYjc /0(&,./&1-,) cafehaven.ca CASINO EDMONTON 7055 Argylll Rd, 780.463.9467 CASINO YELLOWHEAD 12464153 St, 780 424 9467 CHATEAU LOUIS 11727 Kingsway, 780 452 7770 CHRISTOPHER’S 2021 Millbourne Rd, 780.462.6565 CHROME LOUNGE 132 Ave, Victoria Trail COAST TO COAST 5552 Calgary

48 // MUSIC

Tr, 780.439.8675 COLAHAN'S 8214-175 St, 780.487.8887 COMMON LOUNGE 10124-124 St CROWN AND ANCHOR 15277 Castledowns Rd, 780.472.7696 CROWN PUB 10709-109 St, 780.428.5618 DIESEL ULTRA LOUNGE 11845 Wayne Gretzky Drive, 780.704.

CLUB DEVANEY’S IRISH PUB 9013-88 Ave, 780.465.4834 THE DOCKS 13710 66 St, 780.476.3625 DOW'S SHELL THEATRE�Fort Saskatchewan 8700-84 St, Fort Saskatchewan, 780.992.6400 DRUID 11606 Jasper Ave, 780.454.9928 DUSTER’S PUB 6402-118 Ave, 780.474.5554 DV8 8307-99 St, DV8TAVERN. com EDDIE SHORTS 10713-124 St, 780.453.3663 ELEPHANT AND CASTLE� Whyte Ave 10314 Whyte Ave EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ 9938-70 Ave, 780.437.3667 FESTIVAL PLACE 100 Festival Way, Sherwood Park FIDDLER’S ROOST 8906-99 St FILTHY MCNASTY’S 10511-82 Ave, 780.916.1557 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 10025-105 St FLOW LOUNGE 11815 Wayne Gretzky Dr, 780.604.CLUB FLUID LOUNGE 10105-109 St, 780.429.0700 FUNKY BUDDHA 10341-82 Ave, 780.433.9676 GAS PUMP 10166-114 St,

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

780.488.4841 GOOD EARTH COFFEE HOUSE 9942-108 St HALO 10538 Jasper Ave, 780.423.

HALO HAVEN SOCIAL CLUB 15120A (basement), Stony Plain Rd, 780.756.6010 HILL TOP PUB 8220-106 Ave, 780.490.7359 HOOLIGANZ 10704-124 St, 780.452.1168 HYDEAWAY 10209-100 Ave, 780.426.5381 IRON BOAR PUB 4911-51st St, Wetaskiwin IVORY CLUB 2940 Calgary Trail South JAMMERS PUB 11948-127 Ave, 780.451.8779 J AND R 4003-106 St, 780.436.4403 JEFFREY’S CAFÉ 9640 142 St, 780.451.8890 JEKYLL AND HYDE 10209-100 Ave, 780.426.5381 JUNCTION BAR AND EATERY 10242-106 St, 780.756.5667 KAS BAR 10444-82 Ave, 780.433.6768 L.B.’S PUB 23 Akins Dr, St Albert, 780.460.9100 LEGENDS PUB 6104-172 St, 780.481.2786 LEVEL 2 LOUNGE 11607 Jasper Ave, 2nd Fl, 780.447.4495 LIVE WIRE 1107 Knotwood Rd. East LIZARD LOUNGE 13160-118 Ave MARYBETH'S COFFEE HOUSE–Beaumont 5001-30 Ave, Beaumont MORANGO’S TEK CAFÉ 10118-79 St MUTTART HALL Alberta College,

10050 Macdonald Dr NAKED CYBER CAFÉ 10354 Jasper Ave NEWCASTLE PUB 6108-90 Ave, 780.490.1999 NEW CITY LEGION 8130 Gateway Boulevard (Red Door) NIKKI DIAMONDS 8130 Gateway Blvd, 780.439.8006 NINA HAGGERTY CENTRE 9225-

118 Ave, 780.474.7611

NISKU INN 1101-4 St NORTH GLENORA HALL 13535109A Ave O’BYRNE’S 10616-82 Ave, 780.414.6766 ON THE ROCKS 11730 Jasper Ave, 780.482.4767 ORLANDO'S 1 15163-121 St OVERTIME Whitemud Crossing, 4211-106 St, 780.485.1717 PAWN SHOP 10551-82 Ave, Upstairs, 780.432.0814 PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL 10860-57 Ave REDNEX BAR�Morinville 10413100 Ave, Morinville, 780.939.6955 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 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 R PUB 16753-100 St , 780.457.1266 RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES 12402-118 Ave, 780.451.1390 SECOND CUP�Mountain Equipment 12336-102 Ave, 780.451.7574; Stanley Milner

Library 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq; Varscona, Varscona Hotel, 106 St, Whyte Ave SECOND CUP�Sherwood Park 4005 Cloverbar Rd, Sherwood Park, 780.988.1929 SECOND CUP�Summerwood Summerwood Centre, Sherwood Park, 780.988.1929 SIDELINERS PUB 11018-127 St, 780.453.6006 SNEAKY PETE'S 12315-118 Ave SPORTSWORLD 13710-104 St SPORTSMAN'S LOUNGE 8170-50 St STARLITE ROOM 10030-102 St, 780.428.1099 STEEPS�College Plaza 11116-82 Ave, 780.988.8105; Old Glenora 12411 Stony Plain Rd, 780.488.1505 STOLLI’S 2nd Fl, 10368-82 Ave, 780.437.2293 TAPHOUSE 9020 McKenney Ave, St Albert, 780.458.0860 TREASURY 10004 Jasper Ave, 7870.990.1255, thetreasurey.ca WHISTLESTOP LOUNGE 12416132 Ave, 780. 451.5506 WILD BILL’S�Red Deer Quality Inn North Hill, 7150-50 Ave, Red Deer WILD WEST SALOON 12912-50 St, 780.476.3388 WINSPEAR CENTRE 4 Sir Winston Churchill Square; 780.28.1414 WOK BOX 10119 Jasper Ave WUNDERBAR 8120-101 St, 780.436.2286 Y AFTERHOURS 10028-102 St, 780.994.3256, yafterhours.com YESTERDAYS PUB 112, 205 Carnegie Dr, St Albert, 780.459.0295

TREASURY Treasury In Style Fri: DJ Tyco and Ernest Ledi; no line no cover for ladies all night long Y AFTERHOURS Foundation Fri

SAT JAN 8 180 DEGREES Dancehall and Reggae night every Sat ALBERTA AVENUE COMMUNITY CENTRE Bandura Music Stage: Larry Begoray, Kubasonics, Tom Mead (lute), Zavtra, Suite Tweet; part of the Deep Freeze Festival; noon-7pm ALBERTA AVENUE OUTDOOR STAGE (MUMMER'S STAGE) 92 St and 118 Ave: Folk Choir with the Viter Ukrainian Dancers; 3pm ALBERTA BEACH HOTEL Open stage with Trace Jordan 1st and 3rd Sat; 7pm-12

O’BYRNE’S Live band Sat 3-7pm; DJ 9:30pm ON THE ROCKS Bad Judgement, DJs PAWN SHOP Black Mastiff, Old Wives, Fire Next Time RED PIANO BAR Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players; 9pm-2am RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Sat jam, 3-6pm RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Late show: Russian Guitar Phenomenon Arsen Shomakov; $15 STARLITE ROOM Distant Calm, The Promethean Labyrinth, Edge of Attack (metal/progressive/rock); 8pm (door); $12 (door) WILD WEST SALOON Billy Ringo

Classical

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

WINSPEAR CENTRE ESO Saint-Saëns’ Dubravka Tomšic, Second Piano Concerto: Katherine Chi (piano), Gregory Vajda (conductor); 8pm; Saturday for Symphony Prelude: D.T. Baker at 7:15pm in Upper Circle (3rd Level) Lobby; $20-$71 at Winspear box office

BLUES ON WHYTE King Muskafa

DJs

AXIS CAF�Metro Room Sue Decker (blues/country/ folk) with Terry Knutson; 8pm; $10 (door)

BOHEMIA Tolgar (Chicago, Fidget Breaks/Electro), guests; Joe Clarke (painting); no minors; 8pm (door), 9pm (music); $7 (door) BRIXX BAR Brenna MacQuarrie (CD release), Fender Case, the Chris Tabbert Regret; 9pm (door); $10 (adv)/$12 (door) CARROT Byzantine era Music; 12-5pm; part of the Deep Freeze Festival CASINO EDMONTON Colleen Rae and Cornerstone CASINO YELLOWHEAD Robin Kelly COAST TO COAST Live bands every Sat; 9:30pm CROWN PUB Crown Pub Acoustic blues open stage with Marshall Lawrence; every Sat; no cover DOW CENTENNIAL CENTRE� Shell Theatre Fort Saskatchewan An evening of bluegrass with Curtis Appleton and friends; 7:30pm; tickets: $15.50 (adult)/$10.50 (senior/youth)/$5 eyeGO DV8 The Tartan Hearts, Whiskey Wagon, Berzerker; 9pm FESTIVAL PLACE Coenie De Villiers–A Night of Fun and Dance; 8pm FILTHY MCNASTY'S Mike Dunn and Tatam Reeves; 4-6pm; no cover GAS PUMP Blues jam/open stage every Sat 3-6pm, backline provided HAVEN SOCIAL CLUB Daniel Moir & Trevor Tchir, Greg Amundson; 7:30pm (door); $8 (adv at YEG Live)/$12 (door) HILLTOP PUB Open stage/mic Sat: hosted by Sally's Krackers Sean Brewer; 3-5:30pm IRON BOAR PUB Jazz in Wetaskiwin featuring jazz trios the 1st Sat each month; $10 IVORY CLUB Duelling piano show with Jesse, Shane, Tiffany and Erik and guests JAMMERS PUB Sat open jam, 3-7:30pm; country/rock band 9pm-2am JEFFREY'S CAFÉ Celsius Quartet (jazz); $15 JUBILEE AUDITORIUM Church of the Rock Western Tour MORANGO'S TEK CAFÉ Sat open stage: hosted by Dr. Oxide; 7-10pm NINA HAGGERTY CENTRE Deep Freeze Byzantine Winter Festival: Painting with Ella; 1-3pm

AZUCAR PICANTE Every Sat: DJ Touch It, hosted by DJ Papi BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Sat DJs on three levels. Main Floor: Menace Sessions: alt rock/electro/trash with Miss Mannered

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Who Made Who–The Rock and Roll Resurrection: The Maykings (revive The Who), The Dirty Dudes (revive AC/DC); 10pm; no cover BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Sun Brunch: Dangerous Duo, 10am-2:30pm, donations; Evening: Heather Blush and the Uppercuts, 8pm, $15 BLUE PEAR RESTAURANT Jazz on the Side Sun: Don Berner; 6pm; $25 if not dining BLUES ON WHYTE Jenie Thai B�STREET BAR Acoustic-based open stage hosted by Mike "Shufflehound" Chenoweth; every Sun evening CROWN PUB Latin/world fusion jam hosted by Marko Cerda; musicians from other musical backgrounds are invited to jam; 7pm-closing DEVANEY’S IRISH PUB Celtic open stage: with Keri-Lynne Zwicker; every Sun, 5:30pm; no cover DOUBLE D'S Open jam every Sun; 3-8pm EDDIE SHORTS Acoustic jam with Rob Taylor; every Sun, 9pm EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ Country/ country rock jam and dance at 1-5pm; YEG live Sun Night Songwriters Stage at 7-10pm HYDEAWAY�Jekyll and Hyde Sunday open stage jam; 5-11pm

FESTIVAL PLACE Acoustic Grooves (rock/pop); 7:3pm PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic instrumental old time fiddle jam hosted by the Wild Rose Old Tyme Fiddlers Society; 7pm

RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Charlie Trouble, Pete Turland

CROWN PUB Creative original Jam Wed (no covers): hosted

by Dan and Miguel; 9:30pm12:30am

DJs

EDDIE SHORTS Acoustic jam; every Wed, 9pm; no cover

BAR WILD Bar Gone Wild Mon: Service Industry Night; no minors; 9pm-2am BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Eclectic Nonsense, Confederacy of Dunces, Dad Rock, TJ Hookah and Rear Admiral Saunders FILTHY MCNASTY'S Metal Mon: with DJ S.W.A.G. FLUID LOUNGE Mon Mixer LUCKY 13 Industry Night with DJ Chad Cook every Mon

BRIXX BAR Troubadour Tue

THE DRUID IRISH PUB Sat DJ at 9pm

ON THE ROCKS Seven Strings Sun: Jay Gilday, Darryl Matthews and Jason Kirkness

L.B.’S Tue Blues Jam with Ammar; 9pm-1am

EMPIRE BALLROOM Rock, hip hop, house, mash up

ORLANDO'S 2 PUB Open stage jam; every Sun, 4pm

ESMERALDA’S Super Parties: Every Sat a different theme

RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Blues jam; every Sun, 3-6pm

HALO For Those Who Know: house every Sat with DJ Junior Brown, Luke Morrison, Nestor Delano, Ari Rhodes JUNCTION BAR LGBT Community: Rotating DJs Fri and Sat; 10pm NEWCASTLE PUB Top 40 Sat: requests with DJ Sheri NEW CITY LEGION Black Polished Chrome Sat: with DJs Blue Jay, The Gothfather, and Anonymouse; no minors; free (5-8pm)/$5 (ladies)/$8 (gents after 8pm) PALACE CASINO Show Lounge Sat night DJ PAWN SHOP SONiC Presents Live On Site! Anti-Club Sat: rock, indie, punk, rock, dance, retro rock; 8pm (door) RED STAR Sat indie rock, hip hop, and electro with DJ Hot Philly and guests RENDEZVOUS Survival metal night SPORTSWORLD Roller Skating Disco Sat; 1pm-4:30pm and 7-10:30pm STOLLI’S ON WHYTE Top 40, R&B, house with People’s DJ TEMPLE Oh Snap! Oh Snap with Degree, Cobra Commander, Battery, Jake Roberts, Ten-O, Cool Beans, Hotspur Pop and P-Rex; every Sat Y AFTERHOURS Release Sat

SUN JAN 9 BEER HUNTER�St Albert Open stage/jam every Sun; 2-6pm

Classical FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH RCCO Sundays at 3: Gregor Simon (pipe organ); $20 (adult)/$18 (senior/student) at TIX on the Square MUTTART HALL–Alberta College Edmonton Youth Orchestra: 30th Annual Northern Alberta Concerto Competition: Strings, Woodwinds and Brass; tickets available at TIX on the Square

NEW CITY LEGION High Anxiety Variety Society Bingo vs. karaoke; every Tue; no minors; no cover O’BYRNE’S Celtic jam with Shannon Johnson and friends every Tue, 9:30pm PADMANADI Tue open stage with Mark Davis; all ages; 7:30-10:30pm R PUB Open stage jam hosted

by Gary and the Facemakers; every Tue, 8pm RUSTY REED'S HOUSE OF BLUES Tue Accoustic Jam; 8pm SECOND CUP�124 Street Open mic every Tue; 8-10pm SECOND CUP�Stanley Milner Library Open mic every Tue; 7-9pm

DJs

SECOND CUP�Summerwood Open stage/open mic Tue; 7:30pm; no cover

BACKSTAGE Industry Night: with Atomic Improv, Jameoki and DJ Tim

SIDELINERS PUB Tue All Star Jam with Alicia Tait and Rickey Sidecar; 8pm

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Sun Afternoons: Phil, 2-7pm; Main Floor: Got To Give It Up: Funk, Soul, Motown, Disco with DJ Red Dawn

SPORTSMAN'S LOUNGE Open stage hosted by Paul McGowan; every Tue, 9pm

FLOW LOUNGE Stylus Sun SAVOY MARTINI LOUNGE Reggae on Whyte: R 'n' R Sun with DJ IceMan; no minors; 9pm; no cover SPORTSWORLD Roller Skating Disco Sun; 1-4:30pm; sports-world.ca

MON JAN 10 BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Sleeman Mon: live music monthly; Brent Oliver's Bon Voyage Party with Ayla Brook, Slow Fresh Oil; no cover BLUES ON WHYTE JK and the Static DEVANEY'S IRISH PUB Breezy Brian Gregg hosts singer songwriter open stage every Mon; 8pm

GOOD EARTH COFFEE HOUSE Wed with Breezy Brian Gregg; 12-1pm HAVEN SOCIAL Open stage with Jonny Mac, 8:30pm, free

NISKU INN Troubadours and Tales, Tim Harwill, guests; 1st Wed every month; 8-10pm

HAVEN SOCIAL CLUB Po' Girl, Luther Wright; 7pm

FUNKY BUDDHA�Whyte Ave Top tracks, rock, retro with DJ Damian

FIDDLER'S ROOST Little Flower Open Stage Wed with Brian Gregg; 8pm-12

BLUES ON WHYTE JK and the Static

O’BYRNE’S Open mic; every Sun, 9:30pm-1am

SECOND CUP�Mountain Equipment Co-op Live music every Sun; 2-4pm

EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ Wed Open stage; 7-11pm; admission by donation

HOOLIGANZ Open stage Wed: with host Cody Nouta; 9pm

DRUID IRISH PUB Open stage with Chris Wynters; every Tue, 9pm; Jan 11 guest Sean Burns

FLUID LOUNGE Sat Gone Gold Mash-Up: with Harmen B and DJ Kwake

ELEPHANT AND CASTLE� Whyte Ave Open mic every Wed (unless there's an Oilers game); no cover

TUE JAN 11

NEWCASTLE PUB Sun Soul Service (acoustic jam): Willy James and Crawdad Cantera; every Sun, 3-6:30pm

CENTURY ROOM Underground House every Sat with DJ Nic-E

BLUES ON WHYTE JK and the Static BRIXX BAR Really Good… Eats and Beats: DJ Degree; every Wed, 6pm; no cover

J AND R BAR Open jam/stage every Sun hosted by Me Next and the Have-Nots; 3-7pm

BUDDY'S Sat: Feel the rhythm with DJ Phon3 Hom3; 8pm (door); no cover before 10pm

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Glitter Gulch Wed

ROSE BOWL/ROUGE LOUNGE Acoustic open stage every Mon; 9pm

CROWN PUB Underground At The Crown: underground, hip hop with DJ Xaolin and Jae Maze; open mic; every Tue; 10pm; $3

BLACKSHEEP PUB Sat DJ

WED JAN 12

STEEPS�Old Glenora Every Tue Open Mic; 7:30-9:30pm

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic Bluegrass jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society; Slow pitch for beginners on the 1st and 3rd Wed prior to regular jam every Wed, 6.30pm; $2 (member)/$4 (non-member) RED PIANO BAR Wed Night Live: hosted by dueling piano players; 8pm-1am; $5 RIVER CREE Wed Live Rock Band hosted by Yukon Jack; 7:30-9pm SECOND CUP�Mountain Equipment Open Mic every Wed; 8-10pm STEEPS TEA LOUNGE�College Plaza Open mic: with Layne L'Heureux every Wed, 8pm TEMPLE Wild Style Wednesdays with DJ Reno and guests; $5 WUNDERBAR HOFBRAUHAUS Open mic every Wed, 9pm

DJs BANK ULTRA LOUNGE Wed Nights: with DJ Harley BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Blue Jay’s Messy Nest Wed Night: Brit pop, new wave, punk, rock ‘n’ roll with LL Cool Joe BRIXX BAR Really Good... Eats and Beats with DJ Degree and Friends BUDDY'S Wed: DJ Dust 'n' Time; 9pm (door); no cover COMMON LOUNGE Treehouse Wed: guest DJs every week; 7pm (music) DIESEL ULTRA LOUNGE Windup Wed: R&B, hiphop, reggae, old skool, reggaeton with InVinceable, Touch It, weekly guest DJs FLUID LOUNGE Wed Rock This

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: CJSR’s Eddie Lunchpail; Wooftop: with DJ Gundam BRIXX BAR Troubadour Tue: The Balconies and Sean Brewer, hosted by Mark Feduk; 9pm; $8 BUDDYS Tue with DJ Arrow Chaser; free pool all night; 9pm (door); no cover ESMERALDA’S Retro Tue; no cover with student ID FUNKY BUDDHA�Whyte Ave Latin and Salsa music, dance lessons 8-10pm RED STAR Tue Experimental Indie Rock, Hip Hop, Electro with DJ Hot Philly

IVORY CLUB DJ ongoing every Wed; open DJ night; 9pm-close; all DJs welcome to spin a short set LEGENDS PUB Hip hop/R&B with DJ Spincycle NIKKI DIAMONDS Punk and ‘80s metal every Wed RED STAR Guest DJs every Wed STARLITE ROOM Wild Style Wed: Hip-Hop; 9pm STOLLI'S Beatparty Wed: House, progressive and electronica with Rudy Electro, DJ Rystar, Space Age and weekly guests; 9pm2am; beatparty.net Y AFTERHOURS Y Not Wed

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

MUSIC // 49

NEWSOUNDS Gary Wilson Electric Endicott (Western Vinyl) 

Roland Pemberton // roland@vueweekly.com

G

ary Wilson is famous for his 1977 album You Think You Really Know Me, a bizarre mix of psychedelic vocal histrionics, found sounds and conversely sedate lounge jazz that inf luenced weird genre exercises such as Beck's Midnite Vultures. Recorded in his parent's basement, the standout on that record was "6.4 = Make Out," a dark, harrowing plea to a girl named Karen. The song dissolves and folds into itself, culminating in disturbed screams ("She's a real groovy girl! And she's got red lips!

Can't you hear me, God? She's so real!").

Thirty-three years later, Electric Endicott is the rare comeback album where the artist is not possessed with the prospect of being relevant.

Other than the significantly higher production value, there are no concessions or attempts to sound contemporary here. That isn't a stubborn decision or one of limitation.

Gary Wilson simply makes a singu-

lar style of music with an original, unmistakable tone that does not require a major update.

As is his wont, this is a set of songs tied to real and fictional women.

The title track is a reference to his hometown of Endicott, New York and a groovy, hazy paean to a woman named Mary. "Where Are the Flowers" literally sounds like elevator music with Wilson unironically singing like Robert Goulet over top of it. Unrequited love is paramount in Gary Wilson's sound world, as evidenced by song titles such as "Lisa Made Me Cry," "Linda Never Said Goodbye," "Sandy Put Me on a Sick Trip" and "Please Don't Break My Heart Today."

Wilson shares a lot with the other pop outcast named Wilson, Brian of the Beach Boys. They both have personal styles that are difficult to replicate. Each Wilson has an ear for repurposing traditional forms in his own work. And like Brian's late work (and that of future acolyte Daniel Johnston), Gary Wilson writes from a strangely childish and naïve romantic perspective. For instance, "Secret Girl" is about Gary Wilson's secret girlfriend. He sings in third person, "Gary Wilson told me that he had a girlfriend / He didn't want me to tell no one." He talks about girls as if he's never actually dated one.

The album features several short piano jazz sections that emphasize Wilson's actual compositional talent. They remind us that this music actually comes from a natural human realm and isn't just floating out of some mysterious karaoke machine in the ether. While Electric Endicott might not get the promotion and credit it deserves, it still stands as another great collection of limp, synthetic funk from an unheralded legend. V

Caity Fisher Only the Wind (Old Ugly) 

"What a bad day to be coming home / I ain't been around here in such a long time" and "Dogs been fighting in the alley of my memory / And I hope I don't get whipped by the leash" are just two of the pained lines that Caity Fisher delivers on "Coming Home Blues," the opening track of Only the Wind. It's easy (and usually lazy) to toss around the idea of an old soul inhabiting a young songwriter, but in Fisher's case it's difficult to steer clear of the stereotype: her voice alone, drenched in reverb and trembling with emotion, seems almost enough to suggest that this is a songwriter born somewhere between 50 and 100 years late. Add to that the unadorned musical accompaniment—acoustic guitars, mainly, complete with fingers scraping against the strings—and the sounds of the recording environment itself—a muffled voice, a creaking floor, a breath—and Only the Wind takes on a life that is far removed from the confines of a modern recording studio.

While Fisher is the primary participant on the record, there are notable contributions from several other players: Doug Hoyer weaves in some wistful accordion on "Ghost Town" while "O Death" features a bed of Tyler Butler's farfisa and Jessica Jalbert picks some subtle banjo on "Simple Woman Blues." There's also some fairly cutting violin on "Mask in the River," courtesy of Marie Krejcar. Coupled with backup vocals from Jalbert and a devastating lead from Fisher, Krejcar's contribution plays a large role in adding weight to the track and making the song one of a number of highlights on the album.

Perhaps the most impressive addition to the instrumentation, though, is Fisher's own harmonica. An instrument with a long history in folk music, the harmonica is also something that too many artists pick up assuming that the simplicity of the basic technique means that the harp is a simple instrument to play well, the end result so often being the sonic equivalent of the most annoying wind tunnel ever. Not so with Fisher: she cuts several of the songs here with understated harmonica—more melodic parts than solos—punctuating the loneliness of her lyrics with a distant sound that strikes a similar chord and then elevates it to a new plane of distress. For an ideal example of what she's able to convey with the instrument one needs only listen to the title track, where Fisher's harmonica is nothing short of heartbreaking.

While it might be argued that Only the Wind spends an awful lot of its time drifting through the same sort of mid-tempo spaces, at a well-paced 35 minutes it's difficult to make a case that Fisher is dragging on. As heavy as the lyrical content can get here, Fisher seems comfortable and at home, but not settled. She does, after all, sing at one point, "Sweet Gypsy, time will come to take me again / And I must always go where it beckons," suggesting that this album is only a first step on Fisher's musical journey.

Eden Munro

// eden@vueweekly.com

50 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

Tapes 'n Tapes Outside (Ibid) 

Tapes 'n Tapes' latest album, Outside, is marked by a sense of restraint from the very first song, "Badaboom." This level of control continues throughout the rest of the album, each note carefully placed and each word specifically chosen—it is, in fact, the kind of album where the silences have as much of an impact as the notes.

It's a mature work by a band that has the ability to carefully plot out what it wants. Nonetheless, this restraint can go too far: though the quiet bits show a huge amount of artistic control, where the album strives to bust out of its chains—such as on the heavy metal lullaby "Hidee Ho"—the wild parts stay note perfect, sound a little thin, the band members a little too tenuous, afraid to let the sound get away from them.

Bryan Birtles

// bryan@vueweekly.com

Crystal Bowersox Farmer's Daughter (Sony) 

Crystal Bowersox sings, "Whatever happened to good ol' rock 'n' roll? / Whatever became of rhythm and blues and soul / I'll do what it takes now 'cause I just wanna make your mind feel good / The shit that they play now it just don't feel like it should." Them's fighting words coming from a singer who was a runner-up on American Idol, a show renowned for its ability to package, sell and discard music-star hopefuls. In her defense, Bowersox did pen a bunch of her own tunes for the album, but Nickelback's Chad Kroeger also co-wrote one very Nickelback-esque bucket of spit with former Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. The album is far more polished and lightweight in the rock 'n' roll department then the lyrics would have listeners believe, any of the heft here coming from Bowersox's voice. The overall result might be a little more credible if she took the reins completely and jettisoned any blatant cash grabs.

Eden Munro

// eden@vueweekly.com

Warpaint The Fool (Rough Trade) 

Ghostly and ethereal, Warpaint was meant to be heard in a dank basement club—the sort of place you can only get to by venturing through an alley and down a set of narrow, rain-slicked cement steps. But it's pretty excellent (and trippy) coming out of the stereo, too.

Eden Munro

// eden@vueweekly.com

OLDSOUNDS

Rodriguez

Swing Like a Metronome (Devil in the Woods) Originally released: 2000

Rodriguez is the mid-90's manifestation of both Matt Ward and Kyle Field, two pillars of their present genres. Ward is best known as the alt-country powerhouse, M Ward, as well as the musical progenitor of the She & Him duo with actress Zooey Deschanel.

Field should be familiar to lo-fi and folk-noir junkies as Little Wings. He is also the touring companion to Phil Elvrum's Mount Eerie and bassist in the Microphones.

Though Swing Like a Metronome was released in 2000, Rodriguez had only played together from '91 – '97. Perhaps the anonymity of this beautiful record can be attributed to it having come out well after the band had dissipated.

At its heart, this is a country record. You can chalk that up to the shuffling drums and the cowboy bass lines. It's the 90's garageguitar textures that work to embed the record in the formative indie period.

Field and Ward trade the mic on each song, revealing their contrasting styles.

Field's tracks gravitate toward heavier measures. They are deep, resonant, and as slow tempered as a sunset—particularly the single-worthy "All Night Long," a ma-

QUICKSPINS

jor root for his future work. Ward's songs tend to be louder and faster than Field's, accentuated by big build ups and racing drums. Here is where we see the rockabilly influence surfacing. These songs have the unique ability to be calm and deliberate before losing control on the hook and just as quickly returning to his submission when the next verse begins. Ward's voice is very different on these early recordings; it is much weaker on SLAM than it is presently, but his wavering cantor makes for something more romantic and urgent.

This unconstrained element in his vocals make his songs all the more magnetic, especially "Must Be Waiting."

Lyrically, both of these gentlemen excel.

On Townes Van Zandt's "Loretta," Ward croons "Loretta, she's a bar room girl / Wears them sevens on her sleeve / Dances like a diamond shines / Tells me lies I love to believe" over Field's sticky saloon bass line.

All the ingredients for a classic country ballad come together when the fiddle jumps into the chorus. Field's aforementioned "All Night Long" has Field murmuring "Take your arms again and hold me / Remember what you told me / Late last night / With your eyes all full of light / Take your spell again and cast it / You'll know how long it lasted / When you see me / Smiling in my sleep / And in your dreams / Where I belong / All night long." The molasses pace of the song is so rich and hypnotic.

Clearly Ward and Field were both operating on the same level of lyrical and musical proficiency that they are famous for now, yet very few listeners or critics are familiar with this album.

Taking into account the notoriety and deference they enjoy today, it's as frustrating as it is uncanny that Swing Like a Metronome hasn't earned itself some posthumous rapport with their more celebrated work. V Joe Gurba

// joe@vueweekly.com

WHITEY HOUSTON // QUICKSPINS@vueweekly.com

Instead of a "best of" version of Quick Spins for the end of 2010, please enjoy this "all balls" version. Happy new year!

Omega Crom Blood, Steel & Fire (Reversed)

Bishop Morocco Bishop Morocco (Hand Drawn Dracula)

Making old metal With full castrato vocals Takes a lot of balls

These guys have nailed it 80s' influenced pop with Heart, brains and four balls

The Stanfields Vanguard of the Young & Restless (GroundSwell)

Bocce Disambiguation (Dadmobile)

Named for underpants Likewise, the band is quite tight With huge sweaty balls

Awesome synth rockers They play with large heavy balls Just like their namesake

Lioness What You Do Will Come Back To You (New Romantic)

Chloe Charles Little Green Bud (Independent)

Ball pumpin' bassline It's a long remix album Your balls will be drained

Emotive crooner I don't quite "get this" because I have testicles

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

MUSIC // 51

The Matinee

Thu, Jan 13 (4:30 pm) The Nest (NAIT), free Thu, Jan 13 (7:30 pm) With the Gastown Royals, the Brandon Baker Trio Haven Social Club, $10 Vancouver's six-piece outfit the Matinee hasn't reinvented anything with its crisp, clean brand of roots-rock. The group doesn't have to. Steeped in the traditions of the Band and Bruce Springsteen, the Matinee brings plenty of props and respect to time-honoured traditional country-flavoured rock.

On the brink of releasing its third album in 2011, the Matinee is still riding the successes of a very busy and successful 2010: the band released a self-titled EP in late 2009, was selected to play a series of showcases for the Vancouver Olympics

52 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

and rode that wave touring for the rest of the year, guitarist Matt Rose explains.

"We released the EP before the end of '09 and did a bunch of touring for that, but then we kicked off 2010 with playing a whole lot for the Olympics ... and a lot of gigs tied into that," he offers. "So then we were touring on and off for most of the year."

As a result, the accolades for the hard-working sextet keep rolling in: nominated 2010 Best Canadiana band at the British Columbia Country Music Awards, 2010 Music BC Compilation Album, top 10 artists for The Shore 104.3 FM's Sounds of Summer Contest.

The group has showcased at Canadian Music Week, COCA and NXNE and has lent its time and energies to the BC Arts Council's Artstarts Program and the BC Schizophrenia Society's Reachout Tour, performing to over 20 000 college and

high-school students.

Under the umbrella of its own record label, Blue Collar Records, the members—Rose, singers Matt Layzell and Geoff Petrie, drummer Pete Lemon, bassist Mike Young and mandolin/keyboardist Dave Young—opt to write, work and record as a cohesive group, doing it all themselves.

"It started when we started the band, trying to book shows, and came up with this concept of our own record label," Rose laughs. "We were just using it as a platform to book shows under this name. It reflects that we've done everything ourselves up to this point with our releases—any distribution we've managed to get, any booking, it's all been ourselves—it's all under this Blue Collar name, but it's just us."

Mike Angus

// mikeangus@vueweekly.com

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VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

BACK // 53

COMMENT >> LGBTQ

COMMENT >> ALT SEX

2010: A queer year

Removing the pain

2010 was a year of unexpected news to hit Edmoncoming out as lesbian while being a Christian music ton's queer community. To start it off, Edmonton Capartist. Her discussions with King, Ted Haggard and anitals field manager Brent Bowers called openly gay ti-gay pastor Bob Botsford made a fantastic argument umpire Billy Van Raaphorst "a fucking faggot." Bowers for being both proudly queer and Christian. was suspended, fined and resigned. Both the baseball organization and the league responded quickly Locally, it was another banner year for Edmonto denounce Bowers' actions, a surprisingly ton’s incredibly unique and creative queer strong stance against homophobia. community. Queers Never Die launched, Constance McMillen carried herself offering a party for alternative queers. with incredible poise and strength followHoused at New City, this event is all about m o .c ly ek vuewe ing her school's decision to ban her from dressing up, dancing and being utterly tam@ a taking her girlfriend to prom or graduatfabulous. Attendees often arrive in drag Tamar ing in a tuxedo. The Mississippi school may ka or costumes and spotlighted performances Gorzal have organized a secret prom without her have included theatre sneak-peaks, burlesque, but they lost out in the end, with a court ruling drag numbers, DJ parties and musicians. Look for awarding her money and widespread ridicule of the QND on the last Sunday of every month, at New school's decision. Eventually McMillen was invited City's new Whyte Ave location. to celebrity parties, marshalled pride parades, won a Two new gay bars opened and one closed. While scholarship, appeared on Ellen's talk show and had Play Nightclub rests in peace, Junction Bar & Eatery honorary proms in her honour. evokes the mood from some of Edmonton's older Edmonton Police Services' big screw up over the gay bars, concentrating on bringing all communities Shannon Barry incident has been left unresolved together. and many of Edmonton's minority communities have The third year of the Exposure Festival continueed lost trust in EPS' ability to protect to us. Barry was to stimulate the mind with incredible guests and brutally assaulted while assailants shouted anti-gay events, while bringing so many talented arty homos slurs and the officer responding never bothered to together with their audience. What else to say about contact the EPS Hate Crime Unit—he didn't even log this event that continues to redefine gender, art and the report at all. Chief Boyd decided the officer's priorientation in ways that most thought would simvate remorse was enough and EPS ruled the attack ply never be possible in Edmonton? Perhaps only to be not hate motivated. Our cops have spent years that that this year it also hosted an incredible famcultivating a strong relationship with LGBTQ people ily event with the Arty Carnival, a day co-sponsored in our city and I can only hope they choose to repair by the Jubilee that brought together a ton of great what's been lost. activities for variant families and made them the ecA handful of stars including Ricky Martin, Chely static majority in the room.

Wright, Amber Heard, Anna Paquin, Sean Hayes and It's hard to imagine that our town would become Jennifer Knapp all proudly announced they were one where art, activism and community are fostered something other than heterosexual this year. Knapp so well inside so many DIY events and celebrations, may be the most interesting among them. A not parwhere queer culture amounts to so much more than ticularly high-profile singer, she made headlines for a parade and clubbing. V

Hi Brenda, I have been sexually active in the past however have not had penetrative intercourse in about one year.

When I try to masturbate with a vibrator similar in size to a penis, it is painful and I feel as if my hymen has grown back. Is this possible? Could there be something else wrong?

Confused and Questioning

EERN Q UN TO MO

You can also help that feeling of being too tight by actually exercising that muscle. Lots of people think it's all about having a tight pelvic floor muscle, but it's more about toning it and becoming aware of it so that you can tighten and relax it when you want.

Having some control over that muscle will allow you to consciously relax it, which may also make penetration more comfortable.

You can do these exercises—most peoHey there Confused, ple call them kegel exercises—easily on m o .c ly ek vuewe It's not possible for a hymen to grow your own by contracting and relaxing @ a d n bre back. If you've had penetrative sex comthat muscle a few times a day. If you're rendar B fortably before, whatever there was of having trouble sorting out if you're doing Kerbe it right, your hymen is broken and/or stretched there are a number of different toys enough for you to be comfortable. available to make it easier to work that muscle.

I'm wondering how you're using the toy. So many women, myself included, think that because the vaKnow that your body has gina stretches, we should be able to just put someits own wisdom and it will thing in it any time we want, but the vagina is actually small and tight until it gets signals from our respond the way you want bodies that we're excited. When we get aroused, it to. the vagina expands both lengthwise and widthwise, to get ready for penetration. Sometimes we rush and it actually does hurt to have penetration when you're not totally ready for it. It may be that you A less likely possibility is that there is an actual need to take a little more time to get aroused first, physical problem either with that muscle group or which will also help lubrication. internally. Because of the small chance, it would be a good idea to see your gynecologist for an internal Perhaps the toy you have is too large for you. Conexam. Ruling that out could put your mind at ease. sider getting a smaller one and working your way I know talking to doctors about sex is not easy, but up to a bigger one if you feel it's necessary. if you feel embarrassed, remember that it's comAnother thing that may be happening is the muspletely normal and healthy to masturbate and it's cles that surround the vaginal opening could be important to your sexual health that it's comforttightening up. If you get nervous your body will reable for you. V spond to the anxiety by tightening up. The best solution for this is again, to relax and really take your Brenda Kerber is a sexual health educator who has time, whether you're playing by yourself or with a worked with local not-for-profits since 1995. She is partner. Know that your body has its own wisdom the owner of the Edmonton-based sex-positive adult and it will respond the way you want it to. toy boutique, The Traveling Tickle Trunk.

LUST E LIF

FOR

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 19) "A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve," mused 19th-century author Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. I'm passing it on to you, Aries, just in time for the beginning of what may be your wildest year in a decade. In my astrological opinion, you are ready to be a connoisseur of mysteries that purify the mind and nurture the soul ... a fierce adept of the wisdom of uncertainty who's in love with unpredictable teachings.

TAURUS (Apr 20 – May 20) What confusing commotion would you like to walk away from and never come back to? What lessons have you learned so well that you're overdue to graduate from them? What longterm healing process would you like to finish up so you can finally get started on the building phase that your healing will give you the power to carry out? These are excellent questions to ask yourself as you plan your life in the next six months.

GEMINI (May 21 – Jun 20) In ancient times the Latin phrase "ne plus ultra"—not further beyond—was inscribed in the rock overlooking the gateway of the Strait of Gibralter. It served as a warning to sailors not to venture out to the wild waters past the strait. Eventually, that cautionary advice became irrelevant, of course. With a sturdy

54 // BACK

vessel, skilled crew and good preparation based on the experience of others, venturing out past the "ne plus ultra" point wasn't dangerous. I hope you'll take that as your cue in 2011, Gemini.

CANCER ( Jun 21 – Jul 22) There were problems with the soccer balls used in the World Cup last year. Many players felt they were difficult to control. Players said the balls were poorly made, like those "you buy in a supermarket." I bring this to your attention as a cautionary metaphor, Cancerian. In 2011 you will be taking part in your equivalent of the World Cup. It will be crucial to have the very best tools and accessories. You can't afford to play with balls that don't respond accurately to your skillful means.

LEO ( Jul 23 – Aug 22) Biological diversity refers to the variety of life forms in any particular area, while cultural diversity measures the richness of social forms of expression. Then there's biocultural diversity, which measures both together. Indonesia, Malaysia, Melanesia, the Amazon Basin and Central Africa are the areas with the highest biocultural diversity. It would be great if you had a chance to immerse yourself in environments like those in 2011, Leo. If you can't manage that, find the next best thing. You will thrive by exposing yourself to a kaleidoscopic mix of human types and natural influences.

ROB BREZSNY // FREEWILL@vueweekly.com VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sep 22) When I started my rock band World Entertainment War, I was guided by a vision of us having two lead singers, me and another person. Ultimately I chose a woman named Darby Gould as my collaborator—her talent is genius-level.

I knew that our work together would allow me to write ambitious songs that I didn't have the chops to sing by myself. Would you consider giving yourself a similar challenge in 2011, Virgo? It'll be the Year of Collaboration for you.

Why not put yourself in a position to transcend the limitations you have when operating solely under your own power?

LIBRA (Sep 23 – Oct 22) Africa is cracking open in preparation for the birth of a new ocean. The whole process will take 10 million years, but the first sign occurred in 2005, when a 37-mile-long fissure appeared in Ethiopia. Eventually, say geologists, the rift will grow enormous and fill up with seawater.

I expect a metaphorically comparable development for you in 2011, Libra: the subtle yet monumental beginning of a new "ocean" you'll be enjoying and learning from and dealing with for many years to come.

SCORPIO (Oct 23 – Nov 21) In 1967, the US had 31 225 nuclear warheads.

But by 2010 it had a mere 5113. The world's most militarized nation hopes to scale down to an even more modest 3000 or so by 2021.

VUEWEEKLY // JAN 6 – JAN 12, 2011

In the coming year, Scorpio, I'd love to see you be inspired by that example to begin reducing your own levels of anger and combativeness.

You don't have to do away entirely with your ability to fight everyone who doesn't agree with you and everything you don't like; just cut back some. I'm sure that'll still leave you with plenty of firepower.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21) "The heart is forever inexperienced," said Thoreau. He believed our feeling nature is eternally innocent; no matter how much we learn about the game of life, emotions hit us as hard the thousandth time as it did in the beginning. But over the years, haven't you acquired wisdom about your reactive tendencies, and hasn't that transformed them? I say that for the person who wants to cultivate emotional intelligence, the heart sure as hell better be capable of gaining experience. What do you think, Sagittarius? If you're aligned with my view, 2011 will educate and ripen your heart as never before.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19) "We have to stumble though so much dirt and humbug before we reach home," wrote novelist Herman Hesse. "And we have no one to guide us. Our only guide is homesickness." That's the bad news, Capricorn. The good news, according to my analysis, is that 2011 could very well be the year that your homesickness drives you all

the way home. For best results, keep this tip in mind: To get the full benefit of the homesickness, you shouldn't suppress it. Only by feeling it deeply, as a burning, grinding ache, will you be able to ride it all the way home.

AQUARIUS ( Jan 20 – Feb 18) In the past, few dog shows allowed mutts to compete. That's changing since the American Kennel Club has opened up a new category just for mongrels. They won't be judged by guidelines specific to a particular breed, but rather according to their natural talents. This shift in standards mirrors a comparable development in your world, Aquarius. In 2011, it'll be easier to find success simply by being your mottled, speckled, variegated self. There'll be less pressure for you to live up to standards of perfection meant for the pure breeds.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20) " All your longings know where to go," writes poet Nick Piombino, "but you have to tell them to open their eyes." That's one of your big assignments in 2010: to make sure your longings keep their eyes open. It's not as easy as it might sound. Sometimes your longings get so entranced by obsessive fantasies that they're blind to what's right in front of them. You must speak to your longings tenderly and patiently, coaxing them to trust that life will bring more interesting and useful blessings than anything fantasy could provide.

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EDUCATIONAL Top acting training Apply today! www.topactingschool.ca Pro Photo Lighting Instruction with Fri-Mon Light Kit rental Only $25 Gift cert. avail

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HELP WANTED Change your life! Travel, Teach English: We train you to teach. 1000’s of jobs around the world. Next in-class or ONLINE by correspondence. Jobs guaranteed. 7712-104 St. Call for info pack 1.888.270.2941 The Cutting Room is looking for Assistants and Stylists Please drop off your resume at 10536-124 Street

MUSICAL INSTRUCTION MODAL MUSIC INC. 780.221.3116 Quality music instruction since 1981.

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ARTIST TO ARTIST

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Need a volunteer? Forming an acting troupe? Want someone to jam with? Place up to 20 words FREE, providing the ad is non-profit. Ads of more than 20 words subject to regular price or cruel editing.

Free ads must be submitted in writing, in person or by fax. Free ads will run for four weeks, if you want to renew or cancel please phone Glenys at 780.426.1996/fax 780.426.2889/e-m listings@vueweekly.com or drop it off at 10303-108 St. Deadline is noon the Tuesday before publication. Placement will depend upon available space Expressionz Café is looking for café and special concert events volunteers. T: 780.437.3667. General kitchen help: front of house, food prep, baking, etc.

Shifts available Mon-Fri, 9am-12pm, 11am-2pm, 1-4pm, and evening shifts for special concert events (Wed-Sun 6-10pm) Want to be part of Edmonton's New Art community collective? Send info ASAP to d_art_man@hotmail. com for jury in upcoming show

CALLING ALBERTA YOUTH! YES GRANTS Youth Environmental Stewardship grant for youth between the ages of 16-26. If you have a project or idea on how to improve Alberta’s environment you may be eligible for a grant of up to $5000 to bring your idea to life, and make a lasting positive change in your community Info/application at www.albertaecotrust.com/yes Application deadline: Jan 31, 2011

MUSICIANS Call for submissions: artists, digital musicians, and proposals. "TechArt International 2011". Send CV, images, project description to d_art_man@hotmail.com Morango's Tek Café is looking for bands and musicians for shows on Friday nights....contact Dr. Oxide at ..... doctoroxide@shaw.ca Vocalist wanted – Progressive/Industrial/metal; age 17-21.

Contact justinroyjr@gmail.com

Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse seeks two volunteers who want experience in visual arts administration: Artisan Coordinator, and Window Gallery Coordinator; E: Lorraine Shulba at lshulba@shaw.ca for info/apply The Candora Society of Edmonton–Board Recruiting; candorasociety.com; promotes positive growth in the lives of women, children/families in Rundle/Abbottsfield communities. Info: Elaine Dunnigan E: edunnigan@ shaw.ca Volunteer Meal Deliverer/Driver: "Life is a Highway" why not volunteer to be in the driver's seat? Come make a difference every day. Volunteer with Meals on Wheels as a driver. Call 780.429.2020 The Learning Centre Literacy Association: Seeking volunteer tutors to help adults develop reading, writing, math skills. Require High School reading, writing, and/ or math skills; openness to tutor and learn with adults with various life experiences, including homelessness.

Locations: Boyle Street Community Services and Abbottsfield Mall. Contact: Denis Lapierre, DowntownCentre, 780.429.0675, E: dl.learningcentre@shaw.ca; Susan Skaret, Abbottsfield Mall Centre, 780.471.2598, E: sskaret@telus.net Edmonton Immigrant Services Association: looking for volunteers to help with Youth Tutoring & Mentorship, New Neighbours, Language Bank, and Host/Mentorship programs. Contact Alexandru Caldararu 780.474.8445; W: eisa-edmonton.org

Mechanics needed: The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society operates a volunteer-run community bike workshop called BikeWorks, 10047-80 Ave (back alley), also accepting bicycle donations; E: volunteer@edmontonbikes.ca; W: edmontonbikes.ca The Sexual Assault Centre: recruiting volunteers for the 24 hours crisis line. If you're empathetic, caring, non-judgmental, want to gain experience, contact Joy T: 780.423.4102, E: joys@sace.ab.ca for info Volunteers instructors needed–Tap Dancing, Line Dancing. Wed: kitchen helper, Fri: dining room servers; Wed evening dinners: dishwashers, kitchen prep and servers. Mary 780.433.5807

SERVICES

VOLUNTEER

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS Help Line 24 Hours a Day–7 Days a Week. If you want to stop using, we can help Local: 780.421.4429/Toll free: 1.877.463.3537

Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, Jan 8-9 and experience the arts on 118th Ave. Info on volunteer opportunities E: deepfreezevolunteers@gmail.com Do you remember someone who believed in you when you were a child? Be that person in a child's life today.

All it takes is one hour a week, which may not be much to you but will make all the difference in the life of a child. Be a Big Brother or Big Sister! Be a Mentor! Call Big Brother Big Sister today. 780.424.8181 Volunteer Lunch Deliverer/Driver: If you're available Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm, 1-2 days/week, be part of the team.

Mileage reimbursed for delivery routes. T: 780.429.2020, E: emow@mealsonwheelsedmonton.org; W: mealsonwheelsedmonton.rog Volunteer For Northern Light Theatre: In 2011 T: 780.471.1586: E: nlt.publicity@telusplanet.net

S-Anon: 12-Step fellowship for the family members and friends of sex addicts. Call 780.988.4411 for Edmonton area meeting locations and info, sanon.org SACE–Public Education Program: Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (sace.ab.ca) provides crisis intervention, info, counseling, public education. T: 780.423.4102/F: 780.421.8734/E: info@sace.ab.ca; sace.ab.ca/24-hour Crisis Line: 780.423.4121

ADULT Eight Minute Date: 4th Annual Animal Attractions Speed Dating Events at the Valley Zoo! Friday Feb 11, 2011 Ages Groups: 22-23, 33-44, 45-55. Saturday Feb 12 Age Groups: 28-38, 39-49 & 50-60. To purchase your $40 ticket on-line visit www.eightminutedate.ca or tickets will be available Wed Jan 19 from 8:15-9:30pm at The Docks in Londonderry Mall or call for info 780.457.8535 Eight Minute Date - Speed Dating at The Dock's Bar January 19, 2011 - $40 for speed dating, a beverage & appetizers. Age Groups: 27-40 and 42 to 54. You must pre-register at www.eightminutedate. ca or call 780.457.8535

Depression sufferers needed: Low energy, interest, drive? Trouble sleeping or concentrating? Researchers at U of A need your help/ Call 780.407.3906

ExXxclusive 40 Something Petite Companion SeXXXy 5 foot - 90 lb Brown Eyed Brunette, Available Daily 9am-7pm by Appt Only 780.887.4989 - Jackie James No blocked/private calls or text, please

SHARE THE WARMTH WINTER LIGHT

STEAMWORKS GAY & BI MENS BATHHOUSE. 24/7 11745 JASPER AVE. 780.451.5554 WWW.STEAMWORKSEDMONTON.COM

Warm socks, mittens, parkas, scarves and toques are redistributed to people in need, and to agencies that serve the inner city community Items should be clean and warm. Wool socks are particularly useful Donations for Share the Warmth will be accepted at the Winter Light office and festival sites, and at Snow Valley. To donate used clothing before the festival starts, The United Way will take them through their Coats For Kids program. Drop-off your new or used coats at any Page the Cleaner location coatsforkids.ca

sophistication and boldness of epehmeral art over the years as well. What started with rudimentary spray painted tags has developed into elaborate stencils and installations of a more inventive nature, including LED art, paint chip mosaics and yarn bombing.

Despite the city's Graffiti Management Program, this is not the end.

Ephemeral uncommisioned art in public spaces is becoming more widely acceptable. With luck, Edmonton will adopt the approach "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Anticipation fills me as I look forward to the new year and the ever more inspired art it will bring to our streets. V

Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, need volunteers to help immigrant children and youth of all ages–volunteer in a homework club. Phillip Deng at 780.423.9516, pdeng@emcn.ab.ca

Depressed? Anxious? Emotions Anonymous: 12 step support group to help people learn emotional wellness, to live with unsolved problems, to help people cope better with life's issues; call Ruth 780.436.2951

Calling all Snow Angels: The City of Edmonton would like to encourage you to participate in an act of generosity: become a Snow Angel for a senior who has trouble shoveling their walkways. If someone has been a Snow Angel to you or someone you know, nominate them for recognition and prizes.

Info: edmonton.ca/environmental/capital_city_ cleanup/snow-angels.aspx

As the decade comes to a denouement, it seems fitting to look back at the global phenomenon of uncommissioned urban art. The 21st century has seen an explosion of unsanctioned interventions into public spaces: name tag stickers, flash mobs, stencils, video projections, guerilla gardening, protests, performances, wood blocking, wheat pasting, sculpture and more.

All this is part of a greater trend toward individualism and more freedom of expression. Throughout the world, more and more people are partaking in the practice of modifying public views.

Our city has experienced growth in

chelsea boos // che@vueweekly.com

Carrot Café seeks volunteers: baristas to serve coffee, tea and carrot muffins; full training given on making specialty coffees and teas. Also need volunteer to clean daily from 7:30am, Tue-Fri, or once a week on Sun. For info contact Irene Yauck at Irene@ehenri.ca, 780.471.1580

COSMOPOLITAN MUSIC SOCIETY Opportunity for amateur adult musicians and singers to learn and perform concert band and choral music under professional music direction. Contact Darlene at 780.432.9333; generalmanager@cosmopolitanmusic.org

Volunteer website for youth 14-24 years old. youthvolunteer.ca

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