Vue Weekly Issue 751 Mar 11 - 17 2010

2 // UP FRONT

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

INSIDE

COVER

#751 • Mar 11 – Mar 17, 2010

UP FRONT // 4/ 4 5 8 9 11 11 11

Vuepoint Issues ZeitGeist Dyer Straight Well, Well, Well In the Box Bob the Angry Flower

DISH // 12/ 13 Veni, Vidi, Vino

ARTS // 23/ 25 Hopscotch

FILM // 29 29 DVD Detective

MUSIC // 34/ 37 Enter Sandor 46 New Sounds 47 Old Sounds 47 Quickspins

BACK // 48

23

Shared Madness: Folie à Deux folds fact into fiction

FILM

MUSIC

29

34

48 Free Will Astrology 50 Queermonton 51 Alt.Sex.Column

EVENTS LISTINGS 28 Arts 33 Film 36 Music 49 Events

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is a dull epic

Hawksley Workman returns to his eclectic roots

VUEWEEKLY.COM SLIDE SHOW // megadeth

MUSIC

Slide shows: Megadeth, Testament, Lorrie Matheson, Chris Page, Order of Chaos The Classical Score: highlights of the week's classical performances FILM // SIDEVUE

Alice’s adventures in filmland: Brian Gibson peeks through the looking glass for reasons why Lewis Carroll's books rarely make decent movies ARTS // REVUE

Find reviews of past theatre, dance and visual arts shows online DISH // DISHWEEKLY.CA Megadeth / Sun, Mar 7 / Shaw Conference Centre

Restaurant reviews, features, searchable and easy to use. dishweekly.ca

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

UP FRONT // 3

EDITORIAL

// samantha@vueweekly.com

T

he man who brought us Alberta's official mushroom now believes the key to attracting investment is an international beauty pageant.

Carl Benito, MLA for Edmonton-Millwoods, has decided the best way to reinvigorate Alberta's economy is to bring home an international competition for who looks best in a bathing suit. Unfortunately, Benito's suggestion is not too far off what finance minister Ted Morton will be proposing this week with the release of the Alberta competitiveness plan—a way to look pretty to his hard line right wing critics and corporate business friends who may have been worried they've been forgotten.

Coming only three years after the last royalty review was implemented, one which actually suggested Alberta take more from industry, this new announcement is forecasted to do the opposite, creating greater tax breaks for the oil and gas sector. With rumours spreading that the oil industry is looking to move on to invest in provinces like Saskatchewan, the Alberta government seems in a hurry to prove they're creating jobs and corporate

opportunities in Alberta with a new royalty structure.

This might be an idea for an economic stimulus plan if we didn't already have some of the lowest royalty rates and corporate taxes in the world, but let's recall that Alberta's budget predictions to get us out of this deficit situation is to rely on a projected increase to the price of oil. Crossing their fingers and continuing to rely on a volatile market, Alberta finance is hoping the oil and gas sector will not only deliver Alberta the over 28 000 jobs lost last year, but also deliver us from deficit.

If the Alberta government wanted to take a look at some alternatives they might have considered creating jobs in any of the areas they cut $1.7 billion from in this year's budget. Continuous funding in the public sector not only provides much needed social services to Albertans, but creates jobs in other industries. Or Minister Morton might consider reinstating the six percent he cut from post-secondary education grants and scholarships—much needed funding for Albertans to access new job training and education to find new work. Instead, like a tired beauty queen, Alberta is trotting out the routine it performed last year and hoping the judges won't notice. V

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NEWS

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ZeitGeist

GRASDAL'S VUE

Vuepoint Beauty queen samantha power

INSIDE // FRONT

UP FRONT

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recent report by Statistics Canada reveals visible minorities will soon become the majority in two major Canadian cities. Charting immigration and population changes Statisitics Canada forecasts that the visible minority population of Toronto will be 63 percent, while Vancouver's will reach 59 percent by 2031. Overall the population of visible minorities, as defined by the Employment Equity Act, will reach 46 percent by 2031. The population of Canada with a defined religious denomination will nearly double from eight percent in 2006 to a forecasted 14 percent in 2031. The population of Canadians belonging to a visible minority is expected to double, while the rest of the Canadian population is expected to increase by only 12 percent.

The rapid increase of visible minorities is expected to occur due largely to immigration, but also increased birth rates and younger median ages of visible minorities. Edmonton's population of visible minorities is expected to increase by close to 10 per-

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

cent over the next 30 years. If correct, this will surpass the greatest period of growth in foreign-born Canadians (1911 – 1931), although it would mean that foreign-born visible minorities still only account for about 25 percent of Canada's population.

Environmental commitments falter

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fter Canada's dismal showing at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December, the recent federal budget does little to improve Canada's commitment to the environment.

The Pembina Institute's director Tim Weiss comments that the recent budget does little to create clean energy jobs or invest in any commitments to international climate targets. Although Canada claims to be committed to providing funding for developing nations to finance their own climate initiatives, there's no allocation provided in the budget released last week. The Climate Action Network critcizes the Harper government for yet again not taking leadership on an international issue, especially this year as they take on

the responsibility to host the G8 and G20. "The US continues to outspend us embarrassingly 14:1 per capita on renewable energy," points out Graham Saul, executive director of the Climate Action Network. Closer to home, Weiss points to a lack of commitment to create new clean energy jobs and to assist in reducing the environmental impacts in the tar sands, saying the words "oil sands" appear nowhere in the 451 page document.

Global shelter count

T

he Alberta Council of Women's Shelter's has submitted its recent shelter count to the United Nations as part of a global shelter data count.

ACWS provincial coordinator and Secretariat to the Global Network of Women's Shelters believes shelters can be better utilized to help women faced with violence: "As in Alberta, women's shelters around the world are not always heard when considering how to best meet the needs of women fleeing violence at home."

Samantha Power

// samantha@vueweekly.com

ALBERTA // LUBICON RIGHTS

The right to govern

Alberta's Lubicon Cree suffer further setbacks to gain land rights Russell Charlton // russell@vueweekly.com

T

he realization of human rights for the Lubicon Cree has suffered a major setback. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's (INAC) recent imposition of third-party management on the Lubicon has Amnesty International and other local and international organizations expressing serious concern. The recent move by INAC comes after more than 35 years of conflict between the Lubicon Cree and the federal and provincial government, which has brought international attention to this Indigenous community of Northern Alberta and their fight for the recognition of their land rights.

The Lubicon's situation is unusual, having been overlooked during the original treaty process, and thus never having ceded rights to their traditional territory, the Lubicon Cree do not even have the inadequate mechanisms available under treaty to determine the use of their own land. As Amnesty International has reported, "Although inherent aboriginal rights are embedded in the Canadian Constitution and recognized

by Canadian courts, the Royal Commission pointed out that the Canadian government works on the assumption that indigenous peoples don't hold title to disputed land."

The Lubicon lived a largely traditional lifestyle until the 1970s, when resource extraction on their traditional land be-

gan to interfere. That extraction generated billions in profits for outsiders while decimating the Lubicon's traditional economy, which was based on hunting and trapping. Still, the Lubicon have never given up their claim to their land, and have never signed a treaty with the federal government.

Today, the Lubicon may be facing an even greater challenge to self-determination after INAC put the Lubicon under third-party management.

Many believe that the third-party management process is being used as a tool in the government's efforts to continue exploitation of Lubicon lands.

Steve Noskey—voted chief in a June 5, 2009 election—called the process an attempt to "destroy Lubicon selfgovernment and take over Lubicon affairs" as well as "seeking to establish a puppet regime under [INAC's] control that does not challenge unrestricted Canadian government access to valuable unceded Lubicon lands and resources." A Lubicon support group, Friends of the Lubicon Alberta, has said this is similar to "re-colonization of the Lubicon."

The history of the third-party management process does not inspire confidence. The 2003 auditor general's report gave a scathing review of the process, criticizing the lack of transparency and accountability, the lack of first nation input, the absence of an exit strategy and the enormous cost to com-

munities where the fees for third-party management come directly from the band's own money and typically represent about 15 percent of the band's total INAC budget. With that report, and on subsequent occasions, the auditor general has made clear recommendations for changes to the strategy, including that, when putting it in place, INAC should have "a clear plan to end the third-party management."

None of the parties involved believe the auditor general's concerns are being addressed in this case, and Glenn Luff, director of communications for INAC in Alberta, was not familiar with the auditor general's report.

INAC, however, explains implementing third-party management in response to a Lubicon governance dispute. Luff explains, "There are two gentlemen, Steve Noskey, and Bernard Ominayak, who are claiming to be duly elected as chief with councils, and because of that ongoing governance dispute and a lack of a proper administrative structure for the Lubicon Cree, INAC has a responsibility to ensure that the services we fund are, in fact, delivered."

As such, INAC has appointed Meyers Norris Penny, an outside company, to manage aspects of Lubicon Affairs.

"Under third-party management, decisions affecting the welfare of the community such as distribution of social services, expenditures on education, infrastructure, etc, are controlled by

people that really aren't accountable to the community and are much more accountable to INAC," explains Colin Piquette, a member of Friends of the Lubicon Alberta and a supporter of the Lubicon since the 1980s.

While long-time Lubicon chief Bernard Ominayak has submitted an election report to INAC claiming he was made chief for life on June 25, 2009, the election report available has no details on the election procedure, and Ominayak did not make himself available for comment on the issue.

Noskey has dismissed Ominayak's claim as "frivolous," and Friends of the Lubicon Alberta has made similar assessments. Piquette says that INAC is "playing dumb" and attempting to use this to their advantage. "INAC should be recognizing the leadership the community chose," said Piquette. "There was an open legitimate election, held according to Lubicon election rules that the government is aware of. There were reporters and cameras there, and the community voted overwhelmingly for Steve Noskey.

"Then there was another election, departing severely from Lubicon election rules," continued Piquette. "It happened behind closed doors. The people involved couldn't even say how many people took part, and Ominayak was elected chief for life, which isn't even possible under Lubicon rules."

Luff insists, though, that INAC is not

"an arbiter of determining who is duly elected." He said that the Lubicon have a custom election code that does not fall under the Indian Act. As such, he explained, INAC has no jurisdiction over their elections and relies instead on the community to have an election code with proper components and to "let [INAC] know who the duly elected chief and council is of that first nation."

Noskey has responded that the June 5 election does just that; it clearly expresses the membership's choice for chief and council. "What more do they want?" he asked.

Piquette commented that "the federal government has said they don't want to get involved, but imposing third-party management, how much more involved can you get?"

Craig Benjamin, the indigenous rights campaigner for Amnesty International, said that he could not comment on any election dispute because of a blanket policy where, "We don't comment on elections, what constitutes legitimate government ... because it would consume our work."

Benjamin did, however, express being "really concerned that the government would take advantage."

"The real concern," he said, "is that the third-party management strategy is open-ended. When will power be restored to the Lubicon? And will that be used as a further bargaining chip?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 >>

COMMENT >> ALBERTA ECONOMY

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.

Oil and gas sector makes the rules Ricardo Acuña // ualberta.ca/parkland

Now, imagine that your jurisdiction, the province of Alberta, has recently exited from the biggest boom period it has ever experienced.

Imagine that it was a boom so large, with so much investment coming into the province at once, that there weren't enough skilled workers to do all the work, that small businesses had to shut down because they could not afford staff, that communities and cities could not keep up with the infrastructure to support the population explosion, that environmental impacts of development were largely out of control, and that inflation was putting families into debt and shutting down entire sectors of the economy. In fact, it would probably be fair to say it was too large; the result of too much investment too quickly in just one sector of the economy.

What if you knew, without a doubt, that what finally caused your boom to enter bust mode was a collapse in international energy prices—something largely out of your control? And you could see that those prices were recovering, and that in-

vestment was already starting to pick up again in your province?

What would you be doing? Would you be putting mechanisms in place to make sure that new investment was done at a pace which would not overheat and burnout your economy again? Would you

petitiveness" and determine how we can attract more oil and gas investment.

The review has been going on for some time, and its findings are expected to be released within the next week or so. Ultimately, this is a political move by Ed Stelmach and his government designed to ap-

Energy Minster Ron Liepert, whose department is heading up the review, has made it clear that what they're talking about is reducing royalties, reducing corporate taxes, reducing environmental regulations, and reducing health and safety regulations. work to ensure that regulations were in place which would ensure that the pace of investment did not once again overwhelm the environment, or infrastructure? Would you try to make sure it did not all come at once and in only one sector of the economy?

Well, if you were the existing Government of Alberta, you would do none of those things. Instead, you would have your energy department, in consultation with key players in the oil and gas sector, conduct a review of the province's "com-

pease the Calgary-based energy sector, a sector that publicly blames the Stelmach government and their royalty review for the global collapse in oil and gas prices, and the subsequent global slow-down in investment in the sector.

It is a review that, even according to the Stelmach government's budget speech for this year, is not necessary: "Higher oil prices, growth in the housing market, and 12 500 new jobs in Alberta since October. In the past three months, five new oil sands projects have been an-

nounced—adding over $5 billion in new investment. And just last month, a $4 billion bitumen upgrader was announced for Alberta's industrial heartland."

If prices have recovered, and oil and gas investment is returning, why on earth do we need to find ways to encourage more investment? You would think that having the world's second largest reserves of oil (albeit in the tarsands), or having half of global reserves that are actually available to private companies would be enough of an incentive.

Those of us that have been in Alberta for a while know that Conservatives use the word "competitiveness" as code for giving corporations what they want, and this current review is no different. Energy Minster Ron Liepert, whose department is heading up the review, has made it clear that what they're talking about is reducing royalties, reducing corporate taxes, reducing environmental regulations, and reducing health and safety regulations. Just last week he told the Calgary Herald that the review, which was written in consultation with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada would result

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

in "fiscal changes, but [that] there will also be concrete initiatives commenced to deal with regulatory processes."

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the industry is already smiling from ear to ear about what's in the review. Unlike with the royalty review of a few years ago, the competitiveness review did not have to deal with any messy public consultations or meetings with environmental and public interest groups. Instead, the only ones who were given a say in what went into this review was the industry itself. They got to tell the government what would make them happy, and the government got to give it to them.

In the end, the competitiveness review may succeed in helping Premier Stelmach bring the oil patch and its supporters back into the PC fold. The down-side for the rest of us, however, is that it will also result in the next Alberta boom being more intense, more environmentally destructive, more dangerous to workers, and leaving Albertans even less long-term benefits than the last boom did. Perhaps when all of this comes to pass we'll be able to take some solace in being North America's most competitive jurisdiction. V

UP FRONT // 5

EDMONTON // SEXUAL ASSAULT

Defining assault EPS launches a campaign to curb rise in sexual assaults Laura collison // laura@vueweekly.com

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n response to an increase in reports of sexual assault in Edmonton, Police Chief Mike Boyd announced on March 4 that the Edmonton Police Service has partnered with organizations in the community to create a group called Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton, or SAVE, to work toward preventing sexual assault in the city. EPS superintendent Danielle Campbell calls the increase a disturbing trend and notes the increase is significant among 18 – 24 year olds.

While past statements from EPS on some sexual assaults in the city have drawn criticism for downplaying their severity, the message on Thursday was that any kind of sexual assault is serious and unacceptable, and to ensure there was no confusion Campbell stated, "Simply put, sexual assault is any sexual contact or act without voluntary consent. This includes everything from unwanted or forced touching right through to forced penetration."

Pragya Sharma, director of public education at the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE), elaborates: "It has to be voluntary, which means it has to be something that someone actually wants to do. If someone says yes because they've been manipulated, pressured, forced, coerced or threatened to be forced, then that’s not voluntary. If they need convincing, that's not voluntary.”

Under the Criminal Code, consent must be voluntary. This was stressed and it was made clear that if someone is impaired by alcohol they are not able to give consent. "One of the messages that we need to educate the public about is that consent cannot be given when someone is intoxicated,” said Chief Boyd. Of the 645 sexual assaults reported to EPS, 40 percent were facilitated by alcohol and less than five percent were committed by someone unknown to the victim.

Because of the number of assaults under the influence of alcohol SAVE's first campaign will focus on alcohol-facilitated sexual assaults by educating the public about what sexual assault is, and the very definition of consent to ensure people do not become offenders.

While past EPS responses to sexual assaults have included tips on how to avoid becoming a victim, this most recent announcement places responsibility solely on the offender. In response to questions about where the line between assault and consent is, Campbell says, "If you have any doubt if someone’s intoxicated, if you have to ask yourself if they're sober enough to give consent, assume that they’re not."

People can reduce their risk of becoming a perpetrator by controlling their alcohol consumption. "Offenders drink to lower their own inhibitions to do something that they know is wrong, and [that] they might not do if they're sober, but they might if they've had a

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VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

couple of drinks,” Kris Fowler, Director of the Sexual Assault Centre at the University of Alberta (SACUA) explains.

"Offenders also use alcohol to excuse their behaviour afterwards. That is not a recognized defence in our criminal courts system."

Campbell explained EPS respects that many people do not wish to press charges and go through the court process. Third-party reporting, which is offered by SACE and SACUA, is an option that addresses this. A survivor filing a third-party report goes through the same process used by EPS, but with a counsellor rather than an officer. To ensure anonymity, the survivors name is not attached to the file. These reports provide EPS with information which can be used in linkage analysis. This is useful, says Campbell, because, "what we know about these predators is that they don’t stop at one, so all of a sudden we start seeing a trend."

Fowler calls it a good option. "The idea is that by collecting this information, you're collecting information on the offender that will go in to the EPS data base. If another assault hap-

One of the messages that we need to educate the public about is that consent cannot be given when someone is intoxicated. pens that matches that same way of committing sexual assault, then they would contact our agency and ask if we'd be willing to contact that person and see if they’re willing to come forward. [The survivor] can say no at that point, but it does offer an opportunity to provide similar fact evidence down the road and maybe help with a case against that individual."

Campbell says that the way EPS deals with sexual assault is changing to become more efficient and more compassionate. Most striking, was the repetition of the message that it is the offender who holds all responsibility for a sexual assault. Campbell made it very clear, "It is never the victim’s fault. It's the offenders fault every single time." V

HEALTH // ABORIGINAL ISSUES

Increased role

Health conference aims to break down barriers Tiffany Brown-olsen // Tiffany@vueweekly.com

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boriginal women have always been in a care-giving role in our communities, but it has never been recognized or acknowledged, because we haven't received formal education to take on those roles."

Erin Wolski, coordinator with the Native Women's Association of Canada, is hopeful this week's Miyo Machihowin Health Conference will break down that barrier. Sponsored by the Native Women's Association of Canada and Health Canada's Aboriginal Health Human Resource Initiative, the conference will bring together over 100 youth from across Canada and provide access to mentors and professionals in the field of health they would not receive elsewhere.

Barriers such as the lack of resourses, distance from post-secondary institutions, failure to tailor educational supports to the needs of aboriginal people, and too few high-profile aboriginal role models create different needs for aboriginal Canadians attempting to access the job market. And that's where the problem lies, as overall the percentage of aboriginal Canadians who attend postsecondary continues to rise, the unemployment rate among aboriginal peoples remains much higher than among nonaboriginal Canadians. This conference aims to connect aboriginal youth with the mentors who can bring them into the job market. "Our delegates will hear about other peoples' challenges and how they did it." Wolski, also the conference organizer, believes the mentoring portion of the conference will inspire these youth, many who face significant challenges in continuing their educations. "We have the first female aboriginal psychiatrist in Canada coming and she is not immune to many of the challenges that these kids face, and she is going to be there to talk to them about how she did it."

The challenges faced by many of these delegates are significant. Unlike the average non-aboriginal student, many aboriginal students entering post-secondary education already have children and are more likely to begin post-secondary education later in life. The needs of students who are also parents are different and access to "affordable, high quality child care" is at the top of the list of recommendations by the NWAC to reduce the barriers for aboriginal women.

Wolski believes that "there are policies that have been set up that limit opportunities for people in that situation; child care, public transportation, the challenges are often overwhelming for a lot of these young girls trying to pursue an education when they have all these adult responsibilities. They have these demands on their time that are over and above what the other students have."

With aboriginal youth projected to grow at the greatest rate in the next 25 years, Wolski believes that they are perfectly positioned to fill the projected gap in health employment and that mix between traditional learning and practices needs to be mixed with a bit of Western medicine.

"I think that it is important that we go through the Western education system and actually get accredited for the knowledge and for the skills that we may or may not already possess," Wolski explains. So on several levels the objective is to see people who can go back to their communities as a health professional and also, the majority of aboriginal people live off reserve now, and they are accessing services off reserve. So there is a big role for aboriginal people to play off reserve in serving their own people as well as the general public." V Thu, Mar 11 – Fri, Mar 12 Miyo Machihowin National Aboriginal Health Careers Conference & Tradeshow Mayfield Inn & Trade Centre

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

UP FRONT // 7

COMMENT >> ONLINE VOTING

Online democracy With the increasing shift from analogue my banking online, but I can’t do my votto digital, some election officials are uning online.'" surprisingly chomping at the bit to move The enthusiasm for Internet voting toward Internet-based voting. Last is understandable. At first blush, year, Elections Canada officials there is a certain allure associmused about the possibility ated with the convenience of online voting trials, noting of Internet voting, given the potential benefits of inthe prospect of increased .com creasing voter participation, turnout, reduced costs, and weekly e u v mgeist@ particularly among younger quicker reporting of results. l e a h c Mi demographics.

Moreover, since other secut Geis More recently, the province rity-sensitive activities such of Alberta opened the door to as banking and health care have incorporating new technologies into its gravitated online, supporters argue that voting processes as part of an electoral elections can't be far behind. reform package. New trials would reYet before rushing into Internet votquire the approval of a legislative coming trials, the dangers should not be mittee, but the province's chief electoral overlooked. officer acknowledged that online voting Democracy depends upon a fair, accumay be coming, noting, "Online voting rate and transparent electoral process is something that's on the forefront of with outcomes that can be indepenpeople's minds ... people say, 'I can do dently verified. Conventional voting accomplishes many of these goals— private polling stations enable citizens to cast their votes anonymously, election day scrutineers offer independent oversight, and paper-based ballots provide a verifiable outcome that can be re-counted if necessary.

While technology may someday allow us to replicate these essential features online, many of them are currently absent from Internet voting, which is subject to any number of possible disruptions. These include denial of service attacks that shut down the election process, counterfeit websites, phishing at-

ZEIT

GEIST

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tacks, hacks into the election system or the insertion of computer viruses that tamper with election results.

These concerns are based on realworld experience. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that administers the domain name system, ran an online board of director election in 2000. The experience was fraught with

primarily to municipal elections. Several Ontario municipalities have offered Internet-based voting, enabling local residents to vote without leaving their homes. Residents were required to preregister for Internet voting and were provided with detailed instructions on the technical requirements to "vote anywhere."

Caution on Internet voting appears prudent, since experts have identified

The Netherlands used Internet voting as part of its 2006 parliamentary elections... Two years later, the country implemented a ban on Internet voting. technical difficulties, leading a reviewer to conclude "the technical weakness in the registration system made it virtually impossible to assess the integrity of the voters' list, the security of the PINs, and secrecy of vote."

More recently, the Netherlands used Internet voting as part of its 2006 parliamentary elections. The online option was an alternative for Dutch citizens working or living abroad. Nearly 20 000 valid Internet votes were received at a cost of approximately 90 euros per Internet voter. Two years later, the country implemented a ban on Internet voting.

The Canadian experience is limited

a long and costly list of necessary precautions, including random spot checks and post-vote verification programs to preserve anonymity. Given the security risks, opening the door to provincial or federal Internet voting seems premature. In the zeal to increase voter turnout, the reliance on Internet voting could inadvertently place the validity of the election process at risk. V Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at michaelgeist.ca.

COMMENT >> IRAQ ELECTION

Diversity in democracy Iraq's diverse population shows in recent election

There are some bombs going off, but apart from that the Sunnis. The question is really whether the rest of the election in Iraq on March 7 is a model of its kind. the community has accepted its minority status and deThere are more than 6000 candidates for the 352 seats cided to make the best of it. in parliament, and the country is flooded with foreign observers who will monitor the process. Unlike last The alienation of the Sunnis is very great. They domitime, no major group is boycotting the election—and nated Iraqi politics for centuries, and 10 years ago most nobody knows who is going to win it. did not even realize that the Shias outnumbered them Iraq has come a long way since the Sunni-Shia three-to-one. The US invasion drove them from civil war of 2005 – 07, when 3000 murpower, they bore the brunt of the fight against dered people were being found in Baghthe US occupation, and then they were dad each month. True, the most violent dragged into a war against the Shias by the elements could just be waiting until all om al-Qaeda fanatics. .c ly k e we e@vue the Americans leave next year to start the In the course of that war most mixed gwynn e y fighting again, but it's unlikely that they neighbourhoods in Baghdad were "cleansed" Gw nn would let this election unfold smoothly if of their Sunni population, and the city is now Dyer they had the power to disrupt it. And the more overwhelmingly Shia. A very large proportion credible the election, the greater the legitimacy of of the two million Iraqi refugees abroad and the two the resulting government. million internally displaced people are Sunnis. Even in It could be literally a new government, in the sense this election, the Shia-dominated "de-Baathification" that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would no longer be committee disqualified a number of prominent Sunni running it. Maliki's personal popularity among more "na- candidates from running. tionalist" Shias (ie less sectarian ones) is undiminished, Yet most Sunnis will be voting this time, rather than and his "State of Law" alliance leads in the opinion polls, boycotting the election as they did in 2005. They are with a predicted 30 percent of the seats in the new par- now willing at least to try to live within the new reality liament. But 30 percent is not a majority. of minority status in a country where religion plays a far To form a new government, Maliki's party will need larger role than previously. the support of either the secular nationalists of former The threat of an Arab-Kurdish civil war over the disprime minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Movement, puted city of Kirkuk is also in decline, despite the imnow at 22 percent in the polls, or of the conservative portance to the Kurds of its surrounding oil-fields. The Shia religious party, the Iraqi National Alliance, which new Goran party takes a more conciliatory approach to has 17 percent. They have both said that they will not the Arabic-speaking minority in that city, most of whom accept Maliki as prime minister in any coalition govern- were settled there decades ago as part of Saddam Husment they join, and they may actually mean it. sein's Arabisation programs. It does not control the Maliki would doubtless prefer to recreate the existing Kurdistan Regional Government, but it is certainly a coalition with the Kurdish parties, but that arithmetic moderating influence. probably doesn't work any more. Kurds are 20 percent It's a bit early to see Iraq as a kind of Middle Eastern of Iraq's population, and when they all voted for the two Belgium, with as many bitter internal divisions as that traditional Kurdish parties (which cooperated at the na- deeply divided country but also its enduring committional level), they were the king-makers of Iraqi politics. ment to democracy. One parallel, however, is a given: it The recent rise of the reforming Goran (Change) party, will probably take as incredibly long to form a coalition however desirable in itself, destroys that Kurdish unity. government after this election as it does in Belgium.

But how nice it is to make such boring, routine calculaThe wounds in Iraq are very fresh, and its democracy tions about the outcome of an Iraqi election! It's almost is still new and fragile. But after the decades of opas if the place had become a normal country again, and pression, the hundreds of thousands killed since 2003, a democratic one at that. Iraqis certainly deserve such the millions more turned into refugees, and the steep a happy ending after all the horrors they have been fall in the status of women, it would be nice if Iraq had through. Are they really going to get one? something positive to show for its long ordeal. We'll Al-Qaeda, which gained a foothold among the Sunni know by 2020. V Arab minority in Iraq after the American invasion in 2003, retains the ability to commit atrocities like the Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalsuicide bombings that killed 32 people in Baquba on ist whose articles are published in 45 countries. His Wednesday, but it is now only a marginal force among column appears each week in Vue Weekly.

R DYEIG HT

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MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

UP FRONT // 9

LUBICON RIGHTS

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

... We've already seen that the government sees things like providing drinking water and sanitation not as rights but as bargaining chips."

For INAC's part, Luff called such concerns "ridiculous," questioning how that could be used as a bargaining chip and asserting that INAC has negotiated in good faith, as they have with other First Nations.

The Lubicon have repeatedly expressed different sentiments about that negotiation process, though, and they have outside support. Piquette cited "a great deal of dishonesty and double dealing that has characterized the relationship on the part of both levels of government."

Piquette pointed to an example of a 2003 memo leaked from INAC that showed "the federal government intentionally negotiating in bad faith" on the issue of self-governance. And interna-

10 // UP FRONT

tional critics are uncertain based on past inaction to improve the human rights situation. Amnesty International summarizes a document on UN comments on the Lubicon saying 'Over the last two decades, Canada's treatment of the the Lubicon Cree has been repeatedly condemned by United Nations human rights bodies and special mechanisms.

No other human rights case in Canada has been so frequently criticized.'"

Nobody is sure how this situation will

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010

end. Third-party management has continued for decades in other First Nations, and the lack of a clear plan to end that process here has both the Lubicon and its supporters very concerned.

Meanwhile Noskey has said he is willing to participate in another election, or do whatever it takes, so long as the Lubicon are allowed to choose their leaders according to their own rules.

Benjamin expressed hope that the leadership dispute would not distract Canadians from the underlying injus-

tices. "Having visited the community and spoken to both sides it is clear to us that certain fundamentals are not in dispute," he said. "The Lubicon people clearly remain united in the assertion of their rights to their lands and resources. The greatest threats to these rights are the failure of the federal government to provide legal recognition to Lubicon land rights and the refusal of Alberta to respect Lubicon rights when issuing of permits for oil and gas development on their lands." V

COMMENT >> HEALTH

Wakefield questions It turns out I didn't get an inch past the the MMR vaccine. shoreline when I dipped my toes into I asked Wakefield if it was true that the Andrew Wakefield Lancet paper he'd been paid over 400 000 pounds retraction story a few weeks ago, so I by trial lawyers working to prove the decided to revisit it. To give the man vaccine unsafe. "I worked as a medical at the centre of the controversy the expert for nine years on the MMR litigaopportunity to respond to media tion," he wrote in an email. "When statements being made about the case folded because Legal ELL his ethics and integrity, I conAid was withdrawn, the lawW , L WEL tacted him. yers refused to pay what was To recap, The Lancet reowed and the costs judge m ekly.co tracted Wakefield's 1998 took a lot of the fees back vuewe @ h lt a he paper suggesting a potential from the various experts. e i n Con d link between the measles, What I did earn was donated Howar mumps, rubella (MMR) vacto an initiative to build a new cine and the bowel disorders centre for gastroenterology care he was seeing in his autistic patients. and research at the Royal Free [in LonJournalists and medical professionals don]. Unfortunately I was forced out and alike have been cheering ever since: the it never got built." so-called hoax and vaccine conspiracy Not a single penny of Legal Aid Board theory has been exposed, and we can (LAB) money was spent on the Lancet now apparently relax in the safety of paper. A LAB grant was provided for a

WELL

separate viral detection study, but the Lancet paper had been submitted for publication before the LAB grant was even available.

What about allegations that Wakefield had been working for a company making a rival vaccine? He was involved in developing a nutritional immune stimulant they hoped would clear up chronic vaccine-induced measles infection. But this, he says, "could in no way have competed with a live viral vaccine and was not intended for that purpose. The patent was owned by the medical school and not by me.

It was never progressed."

The charge that Wakefield is responsible for new outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella is, to my mind, absurd. Parents have become wary of vaccines, true, but this, it seems to me, is the doing of vaccines, not of Dr Wakefield.

Further, outbreaks among the vaccinated happen all the time—77 percent of those affected in the recent New York and New Jersey outbreak were immunized. And though the outbreaks in England and Wales have reportedly occurred mostly in unvaccinated children, the question we ought to be asking is whether we need to fear measles as much as we do. United States mortality statistics indicate that the mortality rate—13.3 per 100 000 in 1900 and 0.2 by 1945—was negligible by 1963 when the vaccine was introduced.

What Wakefield did is publish a case study of a group of patients in which he'd identified a common thread. These kinds of studies often lead to new hypotheses.

This is how science is supposed to work.

The feeling of the parents of the children involved in the study and the many who have since been helped by Dr Wakefield's work is that he was being a responsible physician in pursuing the cause of his patients' illness.

But industry has a habit of quashing science that may not be good for business. Follow the links: The Lancet is published by Reed Elsevier. The CEO of Reed Elsevier during the time period in question was Sir Crispin Davis, who was also a non-executive director of GlaxoSmithKlein, one of three defendant drug companies in the MMR controversy.

We all know that money is power, and that money wins legal battles, and that the pharmaceutical industry has money like no other. As Noam Chomsky would say, it takes effort not to see what's happening. This is not conspiracy theory.

Wakefield has been singled out for the purpose of discouraging other doctors willing to listen to their patients and do the relevant research even when it challenges vaccine dogma. His career and reputation have been severely harmed as a result of putting his patients ahead of his own protection.

But Wakefield views that as trivial compared to what has been lost to the children.

In his mind, they are the real victims. V

BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER

COMMENT >> HOCKEY

Acting like a hockey team The Oilers spent last week looking somewhat like a real NHL team again with two wins and a loss. The Oilers beat Minnesota 2-1 and shut out New Jersey 2-0 here at Rexall. But just when it looked like a return to the heady days of early December 2009 when the Oilers last won some games, the Oilers dropped a 4-1 decision to Ottawa.

salary has been eliminated and a second round pick added to the upcoming draft day excitement.

I was gob-smacked by the Steve Staios trade. At some point we had to see a Flames/ Oilers trade; it took three decades but here it is. Aaron Johnson seems like a serviceable stay-at-homer and a really upbeat guy. I actually saw Johnson grinning on the Oilers bench during the telecast of The road A weary traveler the Sens game. walks into a bar. It's a bar I'm not sold on the Lubomir om Visnovsky trade but all signs not unlike any other watereekly.c w e u v ox@ intheb ing hole except this one is in seemed to point to one of ShelDave Calgary. A quick pint was on don Souray or Visnovsky being g n You the agenda but upon entering moved to provide salary relief. the establishment a distracting and Souray's earlier injury left Lubo as the noisy siren went off like a foreboding har- moveable part. When all is said and done, it binger of doom. That noise was followed by means more salary trimmed. a muted cheer. This gives our Edmontonian The addition of Ryan Whitney? I'm not traveler a bad feeling. Yup. Calgary Flames sure yet. He was a fifth overall draft pick, hockey. The planned relaxing pint of stout (selected just after Jay Bouwmeester and will certainly be blemished by the company Joni Pitkanen in 2002) but Google scared of Flames fans cheering on their team. And me. I entered "ryan whitney" followed there they are. Some are wearing ugly red by "contract" and the second listing the jerseys; most are watching the game.

Googlers dug up was pulled from a PenIt's 1-0 Calgary in the second period against guins fan site disapprovingly titled "Dear Detroit in Motor City. Crap. The Flames Ryan Whitney: burn in hell." The article, waited to score until our hero arrived. written while Whitney was still a Penguin, It's OK. Deal with it. Enjoy the beer. Watch featured words like "turnovers" and "misthe game. Make the most of it then leave. haps." Gulp. He’s an Oiler now.

Hey look! Steve Staios in a Flames jersey!

Creepy.

Shuffle D-Mons On October 3, 2009 Things are looking up. Detroit scores. The the Oilers opened the season with a 4-3 room groans. Our hero quietly pumps his loss against Calgary. fist. Another powerplay results in another Defencemen dressed for this inaugural Wings goal. Groan; fist pump. It's now 2-1 2009-10 game: Ladislav Smid, Lubo VisDetroit and the second period is over. The novsky, Steve Staios, Denis Grebeshkov, pint is gone.

Sheldon Souray and Tom Gilbert.

I arrived witnessing a Flames lead and can Defencemen dressed for game number 66 now happily leave with the bad guys trail- against Ottawa: Aaron Johnson, Ryan Whiting. My work here is done. ney, Taylor Chorney, Jason Strudwick, Theo Peckham and Tom Gilbert.

Catching up on the trades It's over a week since the trade deadline and the dailies, In- The road part two I should have ordered ternet and radio have dissected the Oiler another pint. After leaving the Calgary pub, moves many times over so I'll opine: the Flames came back in the third period I liked the Denis Grebeshkov move. Some with three goals to beat Detroit 4-3. V

IN THE

BOX

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

UP FRONT // 11

INSIDE // DISH

DISH

14

Online at vueweekly.com >>DISH

Restaurant Reviews Check out our comprehensive online database of Vue Weekly’s restaurant reviews, searchable by location, price and type.

Lazia

PROFILE // PASTA BY CATERINA

Fresh and flavourful

RECIPE

Pasta by Caterina will have you leaving the dried variety on the shelf subtle; it's really more about the texture of the pasta than the taste. It does add an interesting dimension, though."

THIS BOOTH WAS MADE FOR HAWKIN' >> Ernesto Rizzi displays some of his wares at a local farmers' market JAN HOSTYN // JAN@vueweekly.com

F

or those of you who are still firmly ensconced on the carb-o-phobic bandwagon and have cut out pasta as a result, Ernesto Rizzi wants you to know something: "Pasta has gotten a bad rap. Good pasta is made with semolina flour. It's not processed like your typical white flour.

It's high in protein and easy to digest."

Rizzi should know. He's half of the mother/son team that makes up Pasta

by Caterina, a small business that churns out oodles of fresh noodles every week to sell at various farmers' markets around town. And if you're still somewhat dubious about the nutritional benefits, Rizzi says there's always whole wheat pasta.

"More and more people are switching to

whole wheat pasta, so we always make a whole wheat pasta with flax seeds. Nutritionally it's definitely a better choice, but it does change the texture and flavour.

Fresh pasta made with semolina has a very soft texture. Whole wheat pasta is much chewier."

But pasta isn't just about nutrition. It's also about flavour, freshness and the range of choices available. And you can't forget the pure delight that comes from indulging in something truly exquisite.

Rizzi feels Pasta by Caterina sells the freshest, tastiest pasta you can get, in a wide range of shapes and flavours you won't find anywhere else. It specializes in fresh pasta, as opposed to the dried variety that lines supermarket shelves.

And because eggs are added, the texture of fresh pasta is much softer than the

12 // DISH

// Jan Hostyn

dried stuff most of us are so used to. Even if you've been picking up packages of fresh pasta at the store, Rizzi is confident that pasta doesn't come close to what he and his mom make.

"Our pasta is unique. At most stores, you might find two or three different flavours. We try to do at least six every week, each with a different shape, and the flavours and shapes are always changing."

When you wander up to Pasta by Caterina's table at any of the markets, you'll always find a plain and a whole wheat pasta. But tucked in amongst everything else you'll also find the flavoured varieties. Depending on the week, you might find porcini mushroom, carrot/dill, pumpkin and sage, roasted red pepper or butternut squash.

"The taste of our flavoured pasta is

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

Flavour isn't the only difference between Pasta by Caterina's pasta and other fresh pastas. Pasta by Caterina is very, very fresh. "We have a booth Thursday nights at the Salisbury Farmers' Market and all our fresh pasta is made that morning." It's also all natural, with no preservatives.

They do make some frozen pastas, too—filled varieties like manicotti and cannelloni. And the prep time is practically effortless: just thaw, add sauce and heat.

Of course, pasta is always better with sauce, and Pasta by Caterina has that covered too. "Personally, I think the most important aspect of a pasta is the texture. Adding a sauce, a really good sauce, is what really brings out the flavour of the pasta."

Like the pastas, the sauces are all fresh, preservative-free and loaded with the best ingredients available. "We definitely don't cut corners. We use extra virgin olive oil instead of canola oil and lots and lots of veggies. And the only tomatoes we ever use are Italian tomatoes."

Evidently the tomatoes are grown near Naples and Vesuvius—an active volcano—and the combination of the weather and the volcanic soil there produce some of the best tomatoes ever. According to Rizzi, they are meatier than the tomatoes grown here and the flavour is incredible.

To round out the Italian theme, Pasta by Caterina also offers a number of Italian desserts. Again, they're fresh and a little bit different. The cannoli is made with a custard filling instead of the traditional ricotta and the tiramisu has a lemon twist. For something a bit lighter, there are also no-bake mini cheesecakes.

Rizzi and Caterina, his mom, have no formal training in the art of making pasta, but they do have a lot of experience.

Caterina was born in Italy, where she grew up making pasta with her family.

Once she moved to Canada, the pastamaking continued. "She got my sister and me involved from a very young age.

She wanted us to carry on the tradition."

If you're still doubtful about fresh pasta, Rizzi encourages you to give it a try.

You might even become addicted. "We have a couple who drive in from Lloydminster every Saturday during the summer just to stock up on our products for the week." V Ernesto Rizzi Pasta by Caterina Year-Round Farmers' Market: Salisbury Greenhouse Summer Farmers' Markets: City Market on 104th Street, Callingwood, Beverly

Pesto Shrimp Puttanesca with Lemon Pepper Pasta Ingredients

1/4 cup of olive oil 2 cloves of garlic 1 medium sized onion 1 carrot 1 zucchini 1 red bell pepper 1 medium sized eggplant 1 can (392 ml) of whole tomatoes (preferably Pavoncella) Salt to taste Pepper to taste 1 basil leaf Small handful of parsley 1/4 cup of capers 1/2 cup of artichokes sliced thin 1/2 cup of green olives 1/2 cup of black olives 1 pound of raw shrimp 1 tablespoon Pesto from Pasta By Caterina 1 pound of Lemon Pepper Pasta from Pasta By Caterina 1 teaspoon of fresh chilies (optional)

Directions for Puttanesca sauce

In saucepan, heat olive oil. Fry garlic and onion. Add chopped carrot, zucchini, red bell pepper and eggplant.

After vegetables are cooked, add a can of tomatoes (preferably whole tomatoes, not crushed). Season to taste with salt, pepper, basil and parsley.

Let simmer for one hour.

In a seperate pan, fry some shrimp (or salmon, if you prefer) with some Pasta By Caterina pesto until fully cooked. Add capers, artichokes, green and black olives and fry for a few minutes. Put aside.

Cook some Pasta By Caterina lemon pepper pasta for three to five minutes, depending on the shape of the pasta.

When finished cooking, drain the water and add pasta to the Puttanesca sauce and stir. Add pesto shrimp, capers, artichokes, green and black olives.

Finally plate pasta and sauce. Add chilies (optional). V

DID YOU KNOW ...

You should always acidize your onions. This means peeling and quartering onions, then dipping them several times into a mixture of four parts water to one part vinegar. The acid in the vinegar keeps onions sweeter over prolonged cooking. To get the best flavour from your stewing or roasting juices, remember not to cut your onions too small and, regardless of your recipe, always add a bay leaf.

WINE

Vino vindaloo

Wine and Indian food a new trend

TRY SOMETHING NEW >> Though beer is the traditional accompaniment to Indian food, wine is starting to make a strong showing Decadence and indulgence are two words Many of the fine Indian restaurants around that instantaneously come to mind when our city are working with wine experts to salivating over thoughts of the savoury, create a wine option that will accompany spicy world of Indian food. But what to the food, while pleasing most palates. drink to temper and complement That makes the diner's life easy: the food? Decades of tradition you just have to pick your faIDI V , I N VE has held that beer is the better vourite grape varietal or blend pairing with Indian food and, in from the list and order it. many corners, the opinion still The general rule of thumb kly.com e e w e vu jenn@ holds sway, judging by last Fall's for pairing white wine with Jenn Flavours Magazine article "Sour such rich, savoury ethnic fare Grapes," which stated, "Sorry wine, Fulford is to ensure the acidity is suffibut Indian food is best when paired cient. White wine on the less oaky with beer." Many a critic of pairing wine with side is a classic choice for cooling off those Indian Food is out there, not quite ready to spicy curries. Add a little bit of sweetness embrace the newfound meshing between to the wine, something like a Riesling or the winos and ethnic kitchens. Tradition and Gewurztraminer, and it's a hit with everybeer aside, sample a few of the suggested thing from the delicate flavours of papairings, as wine can be a delicious option to kora to the finer vegetarian dishes such as enhance your Indian food experience. paneer. Even the lighter meat dishes, curAs the Edmonton restaurant and wine ries and those little donuts on the buffet communities become more knowledge- that no one ever really has room for but able at pairing food and wine the days of eats resiliently because they're so delicious limited wine options and wine lists full of are complemented by a bit of sweetness mass-marketed wines that clash more than in the wine. To complete a heavier, creamy complement the food are becoming scarce. dish like butter chicken, try out a high-acid

VINO

// Bryan Birtles

wine, something like a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris. And let's not forget about bubbly; there's such a wide variety of sparking wine and Champagne available which can act like a palate cleanser between each delicious morsel of tandoori or tikka.

Choosing a red wine does not limit your options, it just means that you may be drinking a lighter, fruitier style of wine than a Cabernet or Nebbiolo. The reason is that the lower the tannin, the easier the drinking with the aromatic spice. Fruity, lowtannin wines with higher acidity are pretty much all green light, go-ahead wines. The options are many, including the lighterstyled Pinot Noir, Grenache and Beaujolais for the lighter vegetarian fare, and the fruitier, richer Zinfandel, Merlot and Syrah for heavier meat dishes. From mild spice to fire all of these wines are going to complement the food as long as tannins remain low and acidity on the higher side.

So next time your indulging in the curries, butter chicken and other decadent dishes, look past the beer list and give the wine a try. V

MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

DISH // 13

REVUE // LAZIA

Delicious hybrid Lazia's fusion proves a winner L.S. Vors // vors@vueweekly.com

T

he merging of two distinct entities to create a new one is widespread among many disciplines. In linguistics, it's a portmanteau, the blending of two words and meanings. In biology, it's a hybrid, the offspring that result from the breeding of two distinct species. The gastronomical equivalent is fusion cuisine, which combines aspects of at least two specific regions or culinary traditions.

A popular dyad is Mediterranean and Asian; both regions are home to highly refined and renowned techniques and ingredients and share quarters in the kitchen of Lazia.

Lazia occupies an unassuming corner in City Centre Mall, shrouded from incessant traffic and shoppers by rich tapestries and warm colours. A lively and well-heeled crowd sips elegant cocktails at the bar, transfixed by a flat-screen TV. Circular booths in the dining room give privacy, gently lit by strategically-placed lights that play off a large glass sculpture that resembles a handful of cayenne peppers.

The service is astute and heavy on eye candy. Every item on the menu is cheekily named: Mango Tango, K-noodled, Bam! Pow! chicken wrappers, i-Thai linguini and so forth. I read on, hoping that the kitchen possesses the verve to deliver on

FEAST YOUR EYES >> Lazia's decor a welcoming respite from the busy City Centre Mall the restaurant's clever vernacular.

Instead of focusing on several large entrees, we select a smattering of small plates, ideal for sharing and gaining insight into the world of fusion cuisine.

First up are Kobe meatballs with naan

bread ($7.95). In Japan, Kobe beef is sourced only from the Tajima-Ushi breed of cattle, raised in the Hyogo prefecture.

North American farms have attempted to replicate the flavour that characterizes Kobe beef by hybridizing Wagyu and An-

// Renee Poirier

gus cattle. Given that imports of Japanese cattle are rare, thanks to fears of mad cow disease, it is likely that the New-World hybrid lies before me as two generous spheres of beef bathe in chunky tomato sauce. A sprinkle of robust grana padano cheese slowly melts into the rufous background. Several triangles of naan bread lie to the side. The beef is finely minced, its flavour reminiscent of bison, and it easily stands up to the tomato sauce, which is surprisingly spicy. The naan, however, lacks loft and tenderness. The dish would easily work without it.

The Gone Fishin' sampler ($10.95) pairs slices of seared albacore tuna and shellfish with a sweet pea puree and salad greens. Both shrimp and scallops are juicy pillows of flavour, but the tuna is a tad mushy. The delicate green pea puCONTINUED ON PAGE 15 >>

14 // DISH

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010

PROVENANCE

History of the hamburger It's not surprising that many parties might claim to have invented the world's number-one fast food. Some culinary historians say it began with the Mongols, who stashed raw beef under their saddles as they endeavored to conquer the known world.

After time spent sandwiched between the butts of man and beast, the beef became tender enough to eat raw.

Kublai Khan later brought it to Russia, which turned it into the dish we know as steak tartare. Traders later brought this idea to the port city of Hamburg, Germany.

Here, people decided to mould it into a steak shape and cook it, making something that, outside of Hamburg, was referred to as "Hamburg steak."

The truth is, the hamburger was, is, and always will be a truly American invention. The two most credible versions originate in the 1880s. It is quite possible both versions are true and that the difficulty of determining who invented the hamburger first is due to poor documentation.

Most attribute it to a man named Charles Nagreen. Known as "Hamburger Charlie," Nagreen was 15 when he made sandwiches out of meatballs he was selling at the 1885 Seymour Wisconsin Fair. He figured he would sell more meatballs if customers could eat while walking. The Historical Society ex-

LAZIA

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

ree sings of summers past. The salad is clearly a nod to both the Mediterranean and Asia: romaine, endive and radicchio agreeably dressed in ginger and soya.

This dressing is equally affable on the seafood, melding with the pea puree to create additional gustatory complexity.

Killer crab cakes ($8.95) present three thick disks enrobed by crisp auburn crumbs. A careful prod from a fork allows a curl of steam to escape, a contrast to the crisp and cool carrot-cucumber slaw that lies underneath. The cakes are neither fishy nor greasy, and showcase delicate flakes of crabmeat. A Thai-spiced drizzle enhances both vegetable and crustacean, and my only regret is that this sauce ran out before crab cake number three.

Peel 'n' eat Malay bread ($4.95) fills the carbohydrate niche and is served with curried red lentils. The bread lies somewhere between naan and a tortilla in terms of thickness, and easily tears into warm, tender strips for dipping. The curried lentils are laced with curry and coriander with a suggestion of lime. It's a toothsome

plains that Nagreen named the hamburger after the "Hamburg steak" Hamburg steak with which local German immigrants were familiar.

The most documented version is that of Frank and Charles Menches. According to legend, the Menches brothers were vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York. When the brothers ran out of saucages sandwiches, they fried up some ground beef. To liven it up a little, they improvised with what they had, adding a little coffee, brown sugar and various other spices.

A customer asked one of the brothers what they called this unusual sandwich ... to which he replied, “Hamburger, what else?"

What we do know is this: hamburger was named, directly or indirectly after the city of Hamburg, Germany, and that a lot of food was named in a similar manner due to the strong influence of German immigrants near the end of the 19th century.

Frankfurters and wieners are just two examples, but that's for another story.

PETE DESROCHERS

// DESROCHERS@vueweekly.com

and delicious combination that veritably floats on the flaky flatbread and leaves my taste buds crying for more.

Dessert, though I scarcely have room for it, consists of apple-cranberry-mango cobbler ($7.95) and tiramisu ($4.95). The cobbler combines tender chunks of fruit with crunchy oats and almonds, crowned by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I am seduced by the luxuriant cubes of mango that stand out among standard apples and cranberries and cannot resist picking at the dish's remnants long after I am full. The tiramisu is boozy and smooth, the richness of the mascarpone cheese tempered by assertive espresso. Several forkfuls are sufficient to quell any remaining yen for sweets. Like its biological and linguistic analogues, the offspring of fusion cuisine may be a sterile hybrid destined for obscurity, or it may vividly showcase the best features of both parents as a new species unto itself. Lazia is clearly the latter. V Sun – Mon (11 am – 10 pm); Tue – Sat (11 am – 12 am) Lazia 10200 - 102 Ave, 780.990.0188

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

DISH // 15

INSIDE // SNOW ZONE

SNOW ZONE

18

Cold Comfort

SKI // BACKCOUNTRY

Misty mountain hop

Avalanche course clears the fog around backcountry safety

LAYERING TECHNIQUE >> Instructor Harry Allard demonstrates snow layer analysis // Jeremy Derksen

YOU ARE HERE >> Consulting a map on the ridge traverse towards Mt. Roberts JEremy Derksen // jeremy@vueweekly.com

F

at flakes fall on my neck as vapour clouds rise from the centre of our nine-person huddle. I'm one of eight students in this Avalanche Skills Training 1 class now linking arms in what instructor Harry Allard calls "The circle of knowledge."

Allard cements the bond as the final link.

As a certified Alpine Canada Mountain Guide and proprietor of Rossland Mountain Adventures, he exudes backcountry confidence and a mountaineer's sense of irony. Still, it's clear he believes in the technique. And by the second day, I'm convinced too.

// Jeremy Derksen

As we go around the circle, each person shares something they've learned that day. "Check the avalanche bulletin and weather reports before heading out."

"Consider the objective and whether it's achievable, and be prepared to change plans."

"Do a group beacon check before entering the backcountry."

"Don't assume the guide is doing everything right." A round of laughter erupts; some things are best learned by trial and error.

Two days ago we were strangers, but by Sunday afternoon the circle seems somehow the only appropriate way to end the course and take our leave. Looking into the faces of my fellow students, I see seven other people I'd willingly choose as

16 // SNOW ZONE

companions in the backcountry. And had, for two days of skinning, hand shears, compression and Rutschblock tests and those few moments of untracked, wild abandon.

Hydrogen fills the zeppelin. The air is saturated, snow soft and slightly denser due to the humidity.

Friday afternoon pre-course, I arrive at Red Mountain, unpack my bags in my condo suite at Slalom Creek—50 metres from the lift—and head up for the misty mountains, ogling raw rock jutting out under the Motherlode chair. Long before the top, the cable vanishes into fog that obscures the peak.

Directionally impaired but floating on a set of K2 Coombas fitted out with Fritschi

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

Freeride touring bindings, courtesy of the high-performance rental shop, I play Norse god amid powder clouds and pine until I reach a cat track and blindly follow it back to the load.

Several flips later, still orienting myself to the mountain which would be the jumping-off point for the weekend's touring, last chair arrives. Almost imperceptibly it had gotten dark.

The Mountain Project building emits a warm, soft glow as I toe-kick up the slight incline towards the log cabin. With a high roof, large wood-burning ceramic stove and tree trunk totems, the TMP is a lighthouse of sorts. Thermoses and water bottles are ranged around a semi-circle of tables. Stay for tea and have some fun.

From introductions, it's obvious our individual skills and knowledge vary considerably. In our group of eight, we have a former Sun Peaks ski patroller, two resort staff (a liftie and a ski instructor), several burgeoning backcountry recreationalists and, to round out the spectrum, a couple in their mid- to late-50s who are just getting into backcountry touring at their children's influence.

The AST 1 is an entry level recreational course for anyone interested in going backcountry—ski, board, snowmobile, whatever. The only prerequisites are a

AVI SAVVY Avalanche Skills Training 1 and 2 Level 1 is essential training for any backcountry recreationalist; Level 2 expands on the basics and gets more in-depth for advanced travellers.

Online avalanche course access.jibc.bc.ca/avalancheFirstResponse A great pre-season or pre-trip primer to keep the knowledge fresh between outings, provided by the Canadian Avalanche Centre.

The Fine Line rockymountainsherpas.com This feature film has become a popular teaching tool for avalanche instructors. The instructional videos feature top industry experts giving straight, clear advice.

Additional expertise Don't forget that avalanche training isn't the only skill you may need in the backcountry. If you don't have it, consider getting training in navigation (eg. map reading, compass skills), wilderness survival, first aid and emergency rescue skills.

RESCUE EFFORT >> Search and rescue practice with beacons and probes minimum intermediate ability and good physical condition to be able to ascend and descend through treed terrain. Touring equipment and avalanche safety gear are required, but if you don't own it, you can rent it.

The course consists of 26 hours of instruction, usually crammed into a single weekend with two evening lectures and two full days of backcountry touring and on-snow training. Over the duration, participants learn trip planning, route finding, safe travel practices, gear use, snowsafety tests (pole probing, hand shears, compression and Rutschblock tests) and avalanche search and rescue (using transceiver, probe and shovel).

Finding a course is easy enough through your local mountain or the Canadian Avalanche Association website. Choosing where you want to take it is another matter. There are some definite advantages to learning in the same area where you plan to start touring, as it will give you a grounding in some of the region's unique characteristics. On the other hand, going out in different areas gives you a broader range of experience with different types of terrain, climate and snowpack.

I chose Red for several reasons. One, I'd never been there and dearly wanted to ski it. Two, as host of the Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships and the longest operating resort in Western Canada

// Jeremy Derksen

it has a reputation as a serious skier's mountain and it's home to a large backcountry touring culture.

Like an omniscient manifestation of my drifting thoughts, the early humidity has turned to light snow by the time we end our three-hour evening lecture.

Snow, snow, snow. I know it's all a state of mind.

First gear malfunction. I pull out my shiny new probe, never used, and can't lock it. It's as simple as pulling the cord and compressing the top, but I've dislodged the cord from the lock. I jam at it, confused, until Allard walks over and pops it into place. Sheepishly, I start measuring snow depth in the open meadow where we're about to practise beacon searches.

I'm familiar with beacons from skipatrol training, backcountry tours with friends and cat- and heli-skiing trips.

But there are many makes of devices and each has its subtleties. Not to mention, most novice beacon practices are done in relaxed settings, with a single target to locate.

In the meadow, which is roughly half the size of a football field, multiple signals appear at once. Following the induction line—beacons have built-in antennas emitting signals in radial lines from the unit—becomes tricky. First I have to

separate out the weaker signals from the stronger one so I can hone in on it.

I snake towards the buried target, eventually zero in and do a grid search as I've been taught: dialing down the beacon to CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 >>

Avalanche Safety Gear Far from an exhaustive list, but it gives a sense of the kinds of equipment and supplies you'll want to pack for backcountry travel.

Required: •transceiver •probe •shovel Recommended: •extra clothing for warmth •navigational equipment (e.g. geographic and topographic maps, compass, GPS) •food and water (or water treatment devices) •communications devices (e.g. cell or SAT phone, SPOT GPS) •additional outdoor survival gear (e.g. snow saw, flashlight, fire-making supplies, first-aid kit, knife/multi-tool)

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

SNOW ZONE // 17

BACKCOUNTRY // BASH

Cold comfort

Kootenay touring fest educates, entertains and grows sport Bobbi Barbarich // bobbi@vueweekly.com

W

hitewater Ski Resort, Arc'teryx and Mountain Gear hosted skiers and boarders from every snowbearing continent this past weekend at the fourth annual Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest.

For backcountry travellers the Kootenays are an obvious and increasingly popular choice. The Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest celebrates the touring mecca, giving backcountry newbies and seasoned trailbreakers alike the chance to sharpen avalanche and riding skills and possibly win some G3 and Arc'teryx gear over four days of educational clinics, gritty competitions, inspiring film and photography and copious amounts of food and beer.

Phil Bridgers, events coordinator for Mountain Gear, says Whitewater is the natural place to hold an event celebrating backcountry skiing. "Whitewater is unique. It's one of those places that if you're into backcountry, this is where you go. The snow is phenomenal and the access to the backcountry is not only allowed from the resort, it's encouraged."

Increasingly acknowledged by ski industry marketers, skiing's creative side is a critical part of the festival.

Slopestyle competitions and the Buffeh, a highlight of the event, rewards artistic lines on the snow and the photographs of those lines. Spectators at the Buff-eh were wooed by the Cold Smoke Foto Face Off where five invited photographers presented their renderings of Kootenay mountain culture in pursuit of cash and infamy.

The Touchstones Gallery, a prestigious Nelson art gallery, also hosted the fest's opening, a wine and cheese showing of participants' ski designs in the G3 Ski Graphix Challenge. The

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VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

TOURING THE KOOTS >> A skier explores the backcountry near Nelson, BC // Bobbi Barbarich winner of the challenge will receive a pair of skis with his or her own design on the top sheet.

Education, however, is Cold Smoke's main focus. The festival aims to help any skier progress from piste to side-

country to multi-day backcountry tours. In response to why Mountain Gear is co-presenting such an undertaking, Bridgers responds, "Mountain Gear is excited about growth in the backcountry. We want to bring both the seasoned backcountry skier and the beginner to the next step. The festival gives them awareness of good gear, good safety and how to get the best out of their day."

Adds Whitewater marketing manager Anne Pigeon, "We see a range from beginner to seasoned backcountry enthusiasts as everyone benefits from the high calibre of the instructors that come in especially for the weekend. Each year we have added a new event—a race or social which adds to the overall experience."

Bridger says that total numbers of participants and how much the fest has grown is hard to define. With huge growth in sales for backcountry gear, avalanche education and touring enthusiasts over the past five to eight years, festivals such as Cold Smoke will continue to push manufacturers and guides to lead a growing populace.

People usually enter the backcountry to get away from the masses. Perhaps now, the challenge in backcountry access and touring—and the festival—is to keep the experience an intimate one.

"When it got started, we were hoping this thing would fill up," remembers Bridgers. "Now, it's gotten so successful, we're turning people away." V

BACKCOUNTRY

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

its lowest setting (approximately within two metres), marking the outsides of my search area by where the signal is quietest, side to side and front and back. And finally, having determined the approximate location, punching and clawing into a metre of snow until I resurrect the unit.

Experienced mountain guides can find a beacon in under a minute. On my first try it takes me almost four, but in midsearch I really didn't know what time it was. Overnight accumulation had neared 20 centimetres, and the day is warming up quickly. Given changing conditions and considerable hazard ratings for the alpine region, Allard revises his original plan to tour to the top of Mount Grey. Instead, we ascend a nearby ridge, poking the snow with our poles to check snow layers and consistency along the way.

In backcountry touring there's a learning opportunity around every snow bank. At one point, Allard shows us how to quickly assess slope angle (slopes between 30 and 45 degrees are most likely to slide). On an open, solar-exposed face he demonstrates a hand shear, cutting a 30 by 30 centimetre snow column into the slope, then applying pressure with his hand to test its stability. A 30 cm block of snow gives way almost immediately, revealing classic avalanche conditions: a strong (hard, compacted) snow layer resting on a weak layer of facets. If we weren't convinced before, Allard's decision to stay out of high alpine looks pretty good in light of this new evidence.

All in all, it's a lot to absorb. And the AST 1 only breaks the surface of real snow study. Avalanche experts will collect over 100 pieces of data on a given surface, Allard says at one point. It's a sign of how much I have yet to learn that I'm not sure whether he's speaking figuratively.

Low, heavy clouds obscure the peaks as we load the Motherlode the next morning. After yesterday's gear and snow sessions, our second day is primarily focused on route finding and decision making.

Route finding sounds like an easy thing.

It's not. It's hard to attribute direct causes, but the epidemic of snowmobiling deaths in Western Canada that started last season (and still hasn't abated) is likely tied, at least in part, to route finding. Stopping in terrain traps or high marking unstable alpine slopes when forecasts are already warning of high hazard is extremely risky behaviour.

Understanding terrain, watching for slide paths, avoiding unsafe slopes and practising safe travel are key. As we enter the backcountry we do a quick beep test, with one skier stationed ahead with his beacon on search, while the rest pass by him. His job is to make sure he gets a signal from each one.

Allard goes first, then stops a few feet below. "Is my beacon on?" he asks.

"Uh, yeah, I think ... " comes the reply.

With so many of us in close quarters the reading wasn't clear, but naturally the guide is going to be doing everything right, isn't he? Lesson learned. We all take a few more steps back and treat the beacon check with a little more reverence.

Ascending towards Mt. Roberts we take turns leading. At one point, the lead skier crests a small hump only to have it whumpf, crack and propagate over several feet. (Yes, whumpf is the technical term.) We're on a low-angle slope so there's no cause for immediate alarm, but it's a good reminder why we're taking the course. The snow shears apart in almost perfect blocks.

Then it happens, on the ridge traverse.

The sky is overcast, the stability low. Just after doing our full Rutschblock test, we get a report of three, no, four skiers buried in a slide just below us.

Without much discussion I take charge, having some experience in this from ski patrol training. After checking our own safety, I send three searchers into the slide path. Along the debris field, a glove pokes up here, a pole there. The searchers check the items, ensuring they're not attached to a body.

The seconds tick. The air is filled with electronic beeps, pulsing. First slowly, then more rapidly as the searchers zero in.

Seven minutes. Two are pinpointed but the third is still tracking. I send in another searcher.

Nine minutes. The fourth victim is still unaccounted for. From the bystander's report, he wasn't wearing a beacon. I'd made the decision to leave the fourth for last, focusing on retrieving those that are easiest to find—the ones with beacons.

Ten minutes. Shovels are going, the third victim is pinpointed. Allard, who's been acting as the bystander, points out my potentially fatal error. "What are you doing about the fourth victim?" he asks. I explain my logic. Fair enough, he agrees, but then draws my attention back to the debris field and the telltale clues leading into an obvious terrain trap, the kind of place a victim could get held up.

I blanche. Of course. And then the remaining searchers are going hard.

Somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes, although it feels like it's been only five, all four "victims"—in this case beacons and a backpack—are found.

A buried skier's survival rate drops off dramatically after 35 minutes, assuming victims haven't sustained serious

injuries from impact along the way. If this were a real scenario, add time for locating help, getting gear ready and digging through several metres of snow that has essentially hardened into cement. It adds up quickly. This is where it can get serious, fast.

But for today, we are heroes. And all that's left is a hero's freedom to ski on through the glades and fresh powder that only a backcountry skier can access.

Elated and adrenalized from our rescue, our last task for the weekend is to ski under control, with the group. Safely, that is, until we reach the base.

By this point, having spent the better part of two days handling snow and going mostly uphill, I was really out of my mind. Two grueling, jam-packed days of snow immersion, and my brain is all but screaming to let loose on it.

Like a wolf pack we howl back to the base, where sanity returns and it dawns on us that the course is over. Up above, the peaks are receding back into clouds as the snow begins to fall heavily, wiping out any traces of our passing. We break the "circle"—a fragile, snow mandala— and disperse. V Snow Zone's avalanche education coverage continues next week.

MORE INFO Canadian Avalanache Centre: avalanche.ca Rossland Mountain Adventures: ski-rma.com Red Mountain: redresort.com

TERMS Snowpack: snow forms in layers, with a new layer for each new precipitation "event." Snowpack refers to all the layers from the cold hard ground to the surface of the snow.

Whumpf: both a sound and a feeling.

It's when the snow heaves beneath your skis and you hear a "whumpf" while at the same time feeling the snow give way and compress.

Facets: small, granular snow that has become rounded due to age, humidity and pressure. Usually this is the "weak" layer in the classic strong/weak layer formula.

Rutschblock test: if you've heard any avi terms, you've probably come across this one. What is it? It means to dig a twometre wide, 1.5-metre tall column out into the slope for the purpose of testing skier compaction and snow reaction.

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

SNOW ZONE // 19

ALPINE >> NEWS Paralympics take up torch The Olympics may be over, but the competitions at Vancouver and Whistler will start again this weekend with the opening of the Paralympic Games.

The cauldron will be relit on March 12 and athletes will be vying for medals from March 13 – 21.

This second set of competitions is an important part of the overall games epitomizing the Developmental Disabilities Association's motto of "overcoming obstacles, encouraging abilities." There aren't as many events as in m o ekly.c the Olympics, but alpine skivuewe @ rt a h ing, biathlon, cross-country Hart k skiing, ice sledge hockey and Golbec wheelchair curling will all be contested.

I really like watching the sit-skiing races. These athletes can really fly and when they take to the air it is breathtaking. It is not uncommon to bend and break the ski chassis because of the extreme speeds and violent landings.

Traditionally, Canadian athletes have

FALL

LINES

PASSING THE TORCH >> The Paralympic Games begin // supplied

20 // SNOW ZONE

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

fared well at the Paralympics, and this year is no different. In cross-country skiing, visually impaired Brian McKeever leads the way. McKeever only has 10 per cent vision but that didn't stop him from qualifying for the Olympic team as well. He was an alternate and didn't make the top four for the race, which was discouraging, but McKeever will challenge for a gold medal in a number of events, including the 30 kilometre sprint and biathlon.

Our sledge hockey team are world champions and defending 2006 gold medalists. For spectators and tourists many of the pavilions are still open and with 150 000 tourists and athletes having left town, it's going to be a great time to visit the Olympic cauldron, Canada House and Robson square.

Tele-Tri Festival at Marmot Basin Telemark skiers will be converging on Marmot Basin March 13 – 14. This is bound to be a fun weekend for members of the Alberta Telemark Ski Club and anyone else who would like to try

this challenging and fun sport. Numerous clinics are scheduled and there'll even be a GS race to crown the Alberta Cup champion.

Burton at Sunshine Village Burton demo days are coming to Sunshine Village March 20 – 21. Look for the tent in the main village where technicians can set you up with the latest and greatest. You will need a credit card and driver's license to ensure that you return the gear after an hour or two.

Volcom Peanut Butter and Rail Jam Taking place at Lake Louise on March 20, this free event is directed towards the younger crowd. Come on out and register between 8 and 9 am and then go out and hit as many rails as you can in 20 minutes. Everyone is guaranteed a free T-shirt and there are tons of prizes that will be handed out as well.

Check out the event schedule and rules at volcom.com and even pre-register while you're there. V

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

SNOW ZONE // 21

SLOPESTYLE // EDMONTON SKI CLUB

Shine a light

Illuminations blends skiing, artistry and winter fun KIRK ZEMBAL // KIRK@vueweekly.com

T

his may have been the winter when many Edmontonians finally took part in what people have been asking for for years—a popular, exciting, eclectic winter festival. Winter Light 2010 has, at least according to the amount of people taking part, been a raging success with its myriad of activities, sights, and locales since the New Year.

Now, for its finale, Winter Light will be setting up shop at the Edmonton Ski Club this weekend, March 12 – 13 to stage Illuminations, offering up fire and light, live music and a DJ, freestyle skiing, art and a rocket sled shooting across the river, and—my favourite— GT SnoRacing down something they are calling a "dragon luge."

On the Friday night, starting at 9 pm, the show takes to the skies with Flashpoint, which will blend "big air (and) media art." At its core, the event will feature a freestyle-ski competition as well as a sports photography invitational contest and instant replay on the big screen that, "won't look like something from the Olympics," according to Ian Jackson from Epic Photography.

Jackson plans on showcasing instant replay influenced by his work in live theatre—projected video design to be specific. To set this up, the Illuminations crew is planting coloured LED lights throughout the snow and if all goes as planned, "there will be flames." He plans to set up wireless cameras to showcase the sport, "in a more interesting way ... more impressionist, more intimate ...

I plan on having a camera right on the edge of a rail, kinda like the ones on the ends of guitars at rock concerts."

The uniqueness of freestyle-ski comps lends itself to a departure from the norm. According to freestyle coach Nikki Turner, "some kids come to us from

22 // SNOW ZONE

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

ski racing and are shocked at the different competition atmosphere ... There's music booming, crowds cheering, everybody's laid back, there's not a lot of stress." It's this atmosphere that allows, "kids to express themselves [in a sport] where style plays a big part."

Demonstrating the style trends and athleticism of the sport will be the members of the Edmonton Freestyle Ski Club.

Its numbers have tripled in the last seven years, a trend that is replicated province-wide. According to Gord Campbell

If all goes as planned, "there will be flames." of the Alberta Freestyle Ski Association, "Participation is up 10 percent this year."

This despite the recession, and with the strong showing by Canadian freestylers at the Vancouver Olympics, "Kids are getting re-engaged. The exposure for our sport has been tremendous."

Hopefully, that exposure continues with the ultimate event on the Winter Light docket. With the opportunity to witness a mix of slopestyle, moguls and big air—and pyrotechnics—combined with an artistic interpretation of those performances by visual and photographic artists should make for something a bit different than your average rail jam. And that's exactly what the Winter Light festival is all about: something out of the ordinary that piques your curiosity and gets you out of the house on a cold night. V Fri, Mar 12 (12 – 9:30 pm),Sat, Mar 13 (2 – 9:30 pm) Illuminations Edmonton Ski Club (9613 - 96 Ave)

INSIDE // ARTS

ARTS

24

Bodily Functions

Online at vueweekly.com >>ARTS

25

Hopscotch

Arts Reviews

26

De Anima

Find reviews of past theatre, dance and visual arts shows on our website.

COVER // FOLIE À DEUX

Shared madness

Folie à Deux crafts a fictional meeting between two true partners in crime Paul Blinov // paul@vueweekly.com

T

he real Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme haven't seen each other in decades. Not since the '50s: permanent separation was one of the conditions that had them spend only five years in a New Zealand jail for the murder of Pauline's mother, a sensational crime that had all sorts of accusations being levied at the pair of then-teenagers: their unusually close relationship was called out as lesbian, their fanciful imaginations were seen as hints of insanity and it was suggested that, when together, their mutual willingness to chase down a shred of fantasy allowed both of them to commit murder.

"The defense was that they were crazy, and that they made each other crazy," Trevor Schmidt says. "So they were supposed to never see each other again— and they ended up [living] very close to each other afterwards. I just thought, 'How could you not?' It's that whole forbidden fruit thing. Plus, once you kill someone with someone else, I would guess there must've been a strange bond there to begin with, that they would go to such extremes. And I thought, 'How do you just sever that bond and never refer to them again?'

Schmidt's Folie à Deux, being presented here by The Maggie Tree as part of the Indie5 season, imagines such a meeting.

The play's set in modern times, decades after the crime; Juliet's become a famous crime novelist under a new name (which is also true in real life; she built up quite a reputation as Anne Perry, though her real identity was eventually uncovered), while Pauline lives a somewhat more reclusive existence, teaching horseback riding at her own stable. And though the meeting is fictional, to the best of anyone's knowledge—though, as Schmidt points out, research has shown them to now live within 100 miles of each other in Northern Scotland—Schmidt's grounded his "what if?" theorizing in historical case-facts: Folie uses the girls' real names and nicknames, and direct quotes lifted from the journals and stories they wrote together—the pieces read aloud in court are still available as public record— and pretty much anything else Schmidt found fascinating about the case and could fit into his script.

"I was a bit concerned; we were concerned about [using real names]," Schmidt says. "Aside from the idea that they meet each other, we really don't use a lot of conjecture. It's a lot of fact, so we don't feel there's any case for slander or libel or anything. But Sandy, the director, said I think we should use the real names of the real things, so that this is the real case, rather than trying to mask everything and dilute the truth of it, dilute the

DO YOU REMEMBER? >> Folie à Deux imagines the return of murderous dreamers // Supplied reality of it."

After all, the girls certainly bent reality to their own imaginations anyway. As the script explores, their close bond was rooted in a mutual willingness to take fantasies to perverse extremes. The pair wrote feverishly, churching out huge volumes of fiction together, fanciful-yet-dark stories that explored some pretty dark caverns of the human soul: violence and sexuality were frequent subject matter.

That said, Folie à Deux never makes either of them out to be particularly monstrous, just two girls who didn't quite fit into the world they were living in, so they crafted their own.

"I think they both found someone else with just as strong a willingness to go to

those weird places that they were willing to go to," Schmidt explains. "At the first reading, I said 'God, it seems so strange that it ends up turning so violent and bloody and dangerous in this imaginary world they have.' And a young woman that's working on the show said, 'Are you kidding me? It's like Twilight. I was like, 'Oh my God, it kind of is.'

"I guess I always thought young girls would be dreaming of romance.

No, they're dreaming of being raped, and killing their fathers and being stomped to death by horses and things like that, which is what they wrote about all the time, that kind of heightened, really violent stuff that seemed romantic to them."

Given that, it's unsurprising that quite a bit of Folie à Deux is devoted to imagination and make-believe moments. Both women, now pushing their own twilight years, are still willing to work through the old teenage memories of what led them to murder, replay old characters they'd created and go through their written imaginings, jumping back and forth with a flick of the hair or the donning of a makeshift crown.

"I love the idea of the freedom that a fantasy world gives whoever that person is, and for these particular girls, in how they set up their fantasy," says Kristi Hansen, who plays one-half of the pair and is co-artistic director of The Maggie Tree, sitting beside Vanessa Sabourin,

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

her onstage opposite and fellow Maggie Tree AD and director Sandra Nicholls. "In their world, they have power, they have sexuality. They were also able to explore violence. A lot of [these] things—for girls, but also for anyone—are not things you're really allowed to 'tip the balance,' and have those things rule. It always has to be that goodness and righteousness and everything rules.

"It's really interesting, us asking, 'How did you play as a girl?'" agrees Sabourin.

"A lot of times it goes back to this roleplaying, and being able to put yourself into these situations so you don't necessarily have to experience themselves. You can say, 'I was another character doing these things.'"

"And pretty standard when you poll any body of women," adds Nicholls. "Everybody says, 'It's all about the hair. It's all about what you put on your head.' So in doing this, we're setting this in a stable, and they just use the things in the stable to endow [the imagination]; just a crown is enough to kick you in to that fantasy."

The script, they note, also fits in with The Maggie Tree's mandate of developing and increasing the pool of the roles of women in theatre. Schmidt turned out to be a pretty ideal partner to have onboard—13 of the 15 roles in the plays put on last season by his own company, Northern Light Theatre, were for women, as opposed to the usual minimal number in other seasons, Hansen notes—and, as the script was being developed, found his openness to input led down some curious paths.

"The big struggle for me, that Sandra Nicholls really pushed for," Schmidt explains, "is that neither one of the characters leads the action. So we really did want it to play like shared madness, which is what folie à deux is. So that it's not one girl's evil and leads the other one along, or pressures the other one along, but that they both really do come to the idea of killing the mother together, after exhausting all other options. And that also is the same with the sexual activity that happens between them. It seems to flow very organically in the script, that they both decide to try it. And it's not like one leads the other one, and that made it very interesting to write, because we're so used to, as writers or as viewers, we want to know who's the bad guy, who's the good guy and which one's dominant. And so it's really interesting to try and write it so that that isn't as apparent." V Thu, Mar 11 – Sun, mar 21 (8 pm) Folie à Deux Written by Trevor Schmidt Directed by Sandra Nicholls Starring Vanessa Sabourin, Kristi Hansen Catalyst Theatre (8529 Gateway Blvd), $15 – $20

ARTS // 23

PREVUE // JAKE'S GIFT

VISUAL ARTS // BODILY FUNCTIONS

A veteran's tale

Alien organs

Jake's Gift brings a soldier back to Normandy 60 years later David Berry // david@vueweekly.com

The attractive, touchable sculptures in Bodily Functions seem static in their surroundings

O

ne of the more endearing things about Jake's Gift is Julia Mackey's portrayal of its eponymous character, a cantankerous though sweet-natured coot who is returning to France for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

He is the rare kind of character who feels both unique and fully realized, as if he was plucked from the ranks of Canada's veterans for his irascibility and touching story rather than simply created. That anchor is as good a reason as any for the play's phenomenal success, including a lauded run at our own Fringe in 2008 and the cross-country tours that have kept Mackey busy ever since.

It maybe shouldn't be surprising, given how long Mackey's had with the character. Created out of a workshop in the early 2000s, Mackey had Jake before she found his story: in fact, in her original conception of him, he wasn't even a veteran.

"Originally, he just had a brother who went to war, just because that was closer to my mindset: I didn't really have insight into what a veteran would be like," Mackey explains over the phone from Vancouver, where she's gearing up for another crosscountry run. "As soon as I went to France and met all these veterans and started interviewing them, of course I realized that

D-DAY SALUTE >> Jake's Gift returns a soldier to his old battlefield // Supplied he had to be a veteran, and that that was the story I wanted to tell: the journey back to Normandy after 60 years."

And so we follow Jake on a sort pilgrimage to a place that holds two very poignant memories: not only did he participate in D-Day, but his older brother is buried on the same beaches, and he's never returned to see the grave. Along the way to his reckoning, he meets the young Isabelle and her grandmother, whose gratitude and grace help him get through this emotionally charged time.

However, though Jake's Gift in unafraid to explore the full weight of its issues, it is also a refreshingly subtle and frequently

funny play, Mackey making these wellrounded and relatable characters with both her writing and her performance, which is deft. She says the inspiration for that came from her experience interviewing real veterans when she visited Normandy on the 60th anniversary of DDay with the Canadian contingent.

"In all of that sadness, there was a great sense of joy as well. There was a lot of guys who hadn't seen each other in years who were happy to be back visiting and happy to see their friends after so many years," she explains. "It is definitely more of a drama, but we wanted to make sure that there was enough comedy in there to release those moments where it feels like a bit too much. It's emotional right off the bat, but it was important to make the characters have a comedic relationship with each other, and go on kind of a rollercoaster. I like writing that can take you on an emotional rollercoaster, and isn't all death and sorrow." V Wed, Mar 17 (8 pm) Jake's Gift Directed by Dirk Van Stralen Written by and starring Julia Mackey Arden Theatre (5 St Anne St, St Albert), $23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; $28

TOUCH ME! >> The gell-wax sculptures of Bodily Functions strangely resemble organs and cells // Supplied Adam Waldron-blain // adamwb@vueweekly.com

G

erald Beaulieu's gell-wax and mixed-media sculptures in Bodily Functions are attractive. The strange objects are unmistakably made to evoke bodily organs and cells, albeit ones of a possibly alien nature. Happily, Harcourt House's staff will probably tell you to feel free to touch the sculpture's surfaces carefully, and so you can explore them very close up, and wonder at questions like, "How were they shipped and stored?" and, "But won't the transparent and shiny but slightly sticky surface get terribly dusty?"

When you get close to the works, though, despite the esthetic charms of the transparent jelly most of the works are largely made of, they can only entertain for so long. Certainly, some of the works' charms are best appreciated from this distance, and feeling the flex-

ible surface can happen no other way: peering through the soft but glassy exteriors into sometimes recognizable jumbles of electric motors and tiny machines or unrecognizable organic shapes is appealing enough. But after taking in the highlights of a few of the works, many of the sculptures begin to feel a little lost: they are unmistakably hand-crafted models, and many not quite convincing, their ridges of plastic lifeless and shown up by the more successful shapes sitting next to them.

Some editing seems to be in order and, beyond that, all of these could be helped by their surroundings. Beaulieu has his works sitting on clear plexiglas shelves, and although these give a hint of science fiction which doesn't seem out of line with the sculptures themselves, they mostly seem to be chosen to be as invisible as possible. The organs aren't given any purpose: no cinematic lighting or atmosphere, no scientific apparatus or presentation, nothing to give any real clue to their purpose or how to approach them. A few, with mechanical insides, take a few steps to counteract this absence themselves, but alone on their shelves the objects feel repetitive in their obvious, cellular shapes and randomly chosen. They are really little more than tiny experiments in abstract construction, their indistinct interiors and muscle-and-tendon-coloured exteriors a poor relative of Edmonton's specialty abstract painting.

Beaulieu writes that these works are experiments, metaphors about the processes of life: infection, respiration, circulation, de- and regeneration, etc. But they are not processes: they are static and lifeless. Although they give way to your touch, it is in the way of something once-living, not still living. They are silent and their relationship to the body is tenuous because they seem to completely lack purpose. V Until Sat, Mar 20 Bodily Functions works by Gerald Beaulieu Harcourt House (10215 - 112 St)

24 // ARTS

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010

REVUE // DANCE ROUND-UP

Thursday, Friday and Saturday night fevers Fawnda Mithrush // Fawnda@vueweekly.com

L

ast weekend, our town was subjected to more contemporary dance than you can shake a pointe shoe at, thanks to the Expanse Festival rocking the Roxy from twilight on Thursday to Sunday afternoon—and it all happened pretty much at the same time that the Brian Webb Dance Company was finishing up its 31st season across the river with Wen Wei Wang's animalistic stunner, Cock-Pit. What could have been a turf war between two concurrent dance events turned out to be reassuring proof that Edmonton's dance scene is as supportive, collaborative and welcoming as ever.

Brian Webb made it to Expanse's opening on Thursday night, while audiences

that took in Cock-Pit on Friday made a mad dash for the Roxy afterward to catch the 10 pm showing of Martin Bélanger's Spoken word/body—a piece that might have gone over the heads of a few with Bélanger's tendency toward the übermeta, wrapping himself in textual reflections and lolling about like a cat in the sun. Nonetheless, the piece got you thinking about just how often you put a key in the door the exact same way, and offered thoughtful, eerie breaks to the body's daily monotony.

Saturday night, Webb made it back to the Roxy after Cock-Pit wrapped up to catch one of the Wen Wei cast members in action at Expanse's Muscle theme-night.

Bodybuilders opened the show, followed by petite escape-artist Billy Kidd. Raena Waddell's The Surrender Method had its second showing of the fest—a very en-

joyable, virtuosic duet to behold, pairing Waddell's fluid grace with a strong, understated Brennan Campbell. Richard Lee performed a very self-deprecating solo, Destrudo, in which he mashed a cheeseburger into his mouth—washed down quickly with a bottle of Sleemans.

The piece was hilarious but succinct, lasting only a few seconds after the wolfing of the burger to finish with a growly, manly shirt-ripping.

Winding the Muscle evening to a close was David Raymond of Wen Wei in an astonishing, gut-knotting solo—his body acted as if completely independent of his mind, terror crinkling his face as he seemed subjected to visceral seizures and losses of control. Unnerving as it may sound, his performance was a moment that none who witnessed it were

able to shake off.

Local soloists Linda Turnbull and Tania Alvarado teamed up to present Crash on Friday, an hour-long journey through the trash—or what some would call trash. These gals had a strange but comfortable relationship with their clutter, which they spread across the stage in various nonsensical patterns.

While other pieces in Expanse rested on heavier themes, Crash maintained a refreshing, playful energy.

While dancers took to the alleys and narrow passages outside the Roxy (providing more than ample entertainment for the crusty punks that gathered outside the neighbouring Hooligans' Pub), audiences across the river were mezmerized by Cock-Pit, too.

Wang's use of long pheasant feathers ("ling" in Chinese) as extensions of

the dancers bodies brought unique visual qualities to the piece—the feathers stood incredibly still at times, and nervously wriggled at others.

It's not too often in contemporary dance that you get literal story-telling, but Cock-Pit was an amalgam of small tales of youth and discovery. It was like watching quick vingettes of Asian folklore, each teaching a lesson about growing bodies, but all with animals and creatures playing the various characters—there were moments it felt like you were peeking into a collection of Aesop's Fables: The Jungle Stories.

And that wasn't even everything that happened over the weekend, this is just what I was able to catch. Overall, the weekend was a rare, exciting occasion to get wrapped up in—finally, Edmonton feels like a dance town again. V

HOPSCOTCH >> CAMERA LUCIDA

Shutterbug legacy 30 years on, Camera Lucida still captures something deeper It's been 30 years since the publication she was five years old. We're never shown of Camera Lucida. This 25th of March the photograph. At most, writes Barthes, marks 30 years since the death of its au- it would activate our studium, or sober thor, French literary theorist, philosopher interest, with its anthropological value. and semoitcian Roland Barthes. After hav- It would fail to prick or puncture us, to ing lunch at François Mitterrand's he was deliver the punctum, the compelling dehit by a laundry truck and died exactly one tail or air, almost always unintended by month later. Truthfully, I have yet to real- the photographer, indifferent to morality ly delve into Barthes oeuvre, to get a firm or taste, difficult or impossible to name, grasp of the breadth of his achievement. which for Barthes makes a photograph Yet however limited my understanding transcendent. Nowhere in Camera Lucida of his work in totality, I attest to his does Barthes differentiate between final book's enormous effect on the attributes of snapshots, phomy life. It changed the way I tojournalism, or art photograconsider the role of photogphy. He wants to make contact raphy in our lives and what with the medium as it's availom able to anyone, even if its full distinguishes it from the eekly.c w e u v h@ movies. It changed the way I hopscotc power is finally only apparent Josef look at photographs, and ultiin the work of a few.

Braun mately how I look at countless Photography is founded on the other things. It remains a favourite, pose, Barthes notes, whereas in the stimulating, unabashedly personal, deeply movies everything is passing. Photography, moving, occasionally strange. As Barthes Barthes maintains, is undeniable proof of would have it, Camera Lucida, were it a what once was—"that-has-been"—and in photograph, vibrates with both studium this argument he could be seen to falter. and punctum. (As if to ensure its impor- From the doctoring of propaganda photance in my errant education, I was given tos to the omnipresence of Photoshop, the book twice by two different people, surely photos are no evidence of anything neither of whom knowing the other and empirically true. Yet everything we might the second giver unaware that I knew of call a photo does document something, the book in the first place.) and perhaps this is what matters when Barthes wanted to learn if photography coming to terms with its meaning. had "a genius" of its own, stressing his interest in the elusiveness of the medium's While it probably already rang true with essence, the absolute singularity of what readers in 1980, Camera Lucida strikes each photograph contains and, conse- me as eerily prescient in its conclusion quently, the medium's unique relation- that the photograph, with its "certain but ship to death. When being photographed, fugitive testimony," had rendered us beBarthes, who always felt self-conscious ings "no longer able to conceive duration, before the camera, experiences "a micro- affectively or symbolically." (Think about version of death ... I am truly becoming how many times the fluidity of some jua specter." By contrast, Barthes' beloved bilant experience you're having has been mother, who died in 1977, did not "strug- interrupted by someone who asks you gle with her image." In the second of the to hold it, demands the experience can book's two parts Barthes, "looking for the be "captured" by a camera.) Barthes contruth of the face I had loved," examines CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 >> a photograph of his mother taken when

HOP H C SCOT

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

ARTS // 25

VISUAL ARTS // DE ANIMA

Animal house

Maria Whiteman's De Anima an intriguing, linked series of works Adam Waldron-blain // adamwb@vueweekly.com

T

he various parts of Maria Whiteman's De Anima—including close-ups of a dog, blurry shots of taxidermied museum monkeys, portraits with wildlife T-shirts, noisemakers by composer Scott Smallwood and a menacing installation including astroturf and large drawings— seem at first disconnected and arbitrary, but exploring the collection establishes links between the works. Ranging from the silly to uncomfortable, with lots of uncertain in-betweens, the show is certainly interesting.

As you walk through the lower level of FAB Gallery from the entrance, the show begins with its most visually appealing contents: "Autopoesis," a series of photographs of close-ups of a dog— although it's hard to be certain. The rippling fur and sense of warm, moving life is in the centre here, with the animal overflowing each composition.

The photographs are inviting, but walking into the rest of the exhibition things take a turn towards the strange.

The first thing I noticed, still occupied by my first pass over these first photographs, was a whistling, buzzing sound not entirely unlike a boiling kettle. It is Scott Smallwood's "Bird," a strange little solar-powered contraption hanging from the ceiling, dangling streamers as it puts out its varying call. It's unfortunately placed, hanging awkwardly in front of one of the "Autopoesis" works in a way that seems uncertainly intended, but it sets the stage for things to come.

Around the corner in the second room are a set of photographs both like and very unlike the first. These are clearly recognizable apes and monkeys of various kinds, but the photographs are blurry and slightly indistinct. It's enough to initially mask the fact that the animals are taxidermied specimens, and to just barely suggest that it could be hiding something more. The clues are another of Smallwood's sound-making contraptions hanging overhead, this one appar-

HOPSCOTCH

<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

tinues: "no doubt, the astonishment of that-has-been will also disappear." Moments are now so routinely frozen by the slightest whim as to drain the photograph of its power. (Without ever having made a conscious decision to do so, I've come to realize that in the years since acquiring my first digital camera, which releases me from the burden of having to worry about making every shot count, I've gone from being an avid taker of snapshots to rarely picking up the camera at all.) It's pointless to deny the forward motion of technology, but it behooves us to keep returning to Barthes' "archaic trance" as a way of reminding us where this technology comes from, what impulses stirred it.

If Robert Mapplethorpe is an important point of reference in Camera Lucida, where Barthes uses his work to mount a concise, eloquent method of distinguish-

26 // ARTS

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

LEG UP >> De Anima is inviting, becoming stranger as it goes // Supplied ently made of metal flowerpots and less obtrusively installed, and opposite, a selection of large portrait photographs of smiling people wearing wolf, eagle and bear–based souvenir shirts bearing the Banff logo. Funny, but there is something going on here that is only beginning to out itself. The taxidermy series is in some ways impenetrable: less engaging than the work around it— your reaction to the arguably annoying sound-machines may vary— with a hint of unease.

These works are attacking a construct of Nature, pulling at its structure playfully in the portraits, and in more complicated ways as the blurry taxidermy images unravel the careful construction of their artificially-posed subjects and replace it with their photographic polish, along with a touch of menace, reinforced by the racket overhead.

It comes together in the last room— sort of. Whiteman has put together an installation (although the individual pieces are nevertheless labeled separately) which shows off the kind of consideration that was lacking in the strange placement of "Bird." "Herzog's Banquet" is centered around a large

ing between the pornographic and erotic, Mapplethorpe positively haunts Just Kids (Ecco, $31.99), the new memoir by musician Patti Smith. Mapplethorpe took the iconic photo of Smith that adorned her debut record Horses, and Just Kids treats readers to many more wonderful portraits of Smith by Mapplethorpe, while the text itself reads like a portrait of Mapplethorpe by Smith. It is among other things a love story between a heterosexual woman perpetually drawn to questions of the spirit and a gay man who sought the sublime through the confines of the body. As though fated, Smith met Mapplethorpe on the day she first arrived in New York as a virtually penniless 20-year-old. The first time she laid eyes on Mapplethorpe he was asleep, as with the last time. Mapplethorpe died in 1989 on the 9th of March, the same date on which I write this.

Just Kids is a tender, dignified remembrance of an unusually heady time and

wooden dining-room table covered with artificial grass that recalls the fur everywhere else in the show, as well as a textbook surrealism throwback.

Under the table are speakers playing a suitably atmospheric Smallwood composition and on the walls hang three drawings titled "Enclosure," one each for the eyes, ears and nose/mouth of a predatory animal. The drawings, each one a diptych separated horizontally, are flattened and not specific in much the same way as the howling wolves on the Banff T-shirts, but they have an unmistakable symbolic purpose emphasized by their larger-than-life scale and their surroundings. The animalshave-taken-over-the-zoo idea is maybe not original, but the details here are interesting: the astroturf and table's awkward combination, unmistakably about human living arrangements and the artificial nature of a normal lawn, is not neatly wrapped up like the Banff portraits. But it is worth a look. V Until Sat, Mar 27 De Anima Works by Maria Whiteman FAB Gallery (87 ave & 112 st)

place. On one page Allen Ginsberg buys a near-starving Smith a sandwich, initially mistaking her for a pretty boy. On another Smith sees Diane Arbus, Jonas Mekas and Salvador Dalí in the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, or spots Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Jefferson Airplane in El Quixote. Smith was in the room when Kris Kristofferson first played "Me and Bobby McGee" for Joplin. Lou Reed and Gregory Corso showed up for her first poetry reading. Sam Shepard once pulled a raw steak out of her pocket. Yet this is a profoundly intimate book, not a public one. It describes two young people finding themselves through art. Considering how central the subject is to her story, Smith is strangely un-forthcoming about her sexual experiences with Mapplethorpe, who would only gradually accept his homosexuality, doing so largely via the development of his work. But the intensity of her emotional experiences as almost palpable. V

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

ARTS // 27

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VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

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28 // ARTS

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INSIDE // FILM

FILM

Online at vueweekly.com >> FILM

30

Alice’s Adventures in Filmland

Film Capsules

by Brian Gibson Brian Gibson peeks through the looking glass for reasons why Lewis Carroll's books rarely make decent movies

REVUE // ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Wonderland this ain't

Tim Burton's Alice reboot sticks close to the dull epic-movie formula Brian Gibson // brian@vueweekly.com

I

t's sadly appropriate that, in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Alice Kingsley (Mia Wasikowska) is 19 and on the cusp of matrimony. The movie itself, it turns out, has a kind of chastity belt locking it into predictable place.

Carroll's fantastic prose and Burton's fanciful eye turn out to be a marriage made in purgatory, with this adaptation dulled down by a leaden epic formula: heroine flees here and there, meets strange creatures who help her, realizes her destiny, slays a beast, heads for a rosy new horizon.

Alice (whose father's name, Charles, recalls Charles Kingsley, Victorian author of children's classic The Water Babies) finds herself in the midst of a garden party, about to be proposed to by snotty lord-in-waiting Hamish.

Unsurprisingly, she prefers to escape, hopping off after the White Rabbit and falling back down the hole into "Underland," which she'd visited 12 years ago.

Most bizarrely, Alice's real world is far more delusional than Wonderland, which the story inexplicably insists on making a real place. In what can only be an alternate Victorian universe, Alice stands up for herself to a preposterous degree. It's all very well to have Alice be a strong-willed woman, even a budding

QUEEN OF THE CASTLE >> Helena Bonham Carter plays The Red Queen in Alice // Supplied feminist. But to launch her on her own as fiercely (and capitalistically, as she sails off in the name of imperial trade) as she is here is an anachronistic pipedream that even the Blue Caterpillar— lounging about as a Yoda figure for Alice—couldn't puff up from his hookah.

The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), slipping into Scottish brogue on

occasion, ends up as a companionin-arms, presumably because Depp should have more screen time. The Dormouse isn't sleepy but a swashbuckling female mouse-keteer, and it turns out, according to a scroll out of Epics Anonymous, that Alice is the knight who must slay the Jabberwocky. That fight finale at least hits

some dizzying heights of drama.

Comedy and charming daffiness, though, are sorely lacking. It's mostly ashen doom and gloom, as when a Lilliputian-sized Alice travels to the Red Queen's huge castle, Wonderland being in the grip of firegrate-grey weather ever since Red (Helena Bonham Carter,

pleasantly despotic at times) took over the land. (The Red Queen's made the same as the Queen of Hearts, though her malice shrillingly outshines the White Queen, who glides glacially along in a banal counter-realm of blank goodness.) The entrancing absurdity, wit and sunny nonsense in Carroll's episodic books are clouded over for a plot that becomes jerkily predictable on its Lord of the Rings route.

Rare offbeat moments—the eerie, cheery grin of the Cheshire Cat, the looney-bin Bugs Bunny-ness of the March Hare, even a flash of the Queen of Hearts' desire for love instead of fear—only make it clear what a safe, beige-brick road our heroine is usually made to trudge. Wasikowska can't show much of the spiky near-adultness with which she pierced the heart of a teenager in In Treatment. And though she slips out of her socially straitjacketed life as a young Victorian woman, the film never breaks out of its stale mould. "Tediouser and tediouser!" cried Alice. V

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

directed by tim burton written by linda woolverton, lewis carroll starring mia wasikowska, johnny depp, helena bonham carter



DVD DETECTIVE >> ALEXANDER THE LAST

The devil's in the details Alexander the Last dwells on the little gestures that mean more If you're going to avoid the term "mum- an auteur abnormally interested in the blecore," as most appreciators of the little details of his character's lives: the genre have taken to doing, then the central tension of his latest, Alexander only real way to describe Joe Swanberg's the Last, isn't even so much as the pofilms is as a type of realism, although tential ending of a relationship, but how one that's even fairly different from a certain flirtatious energy complicates our normal associations with the life of a married actress. It's the term. Basically entirely the kind of event where you devoid of any kind of social could conceivably make the responsibility—Swanberg's argument that nothing hapom pens, that might not even be milieu has been almost exeekly.c w e u v e@ clusively in the emotional dvddetectiv remembered by the couple relationships of the creative it affects in a few years' time, David middle class, even to a greater and yet Swanberg recognizes Berry extent than any of his other conthe drama and importance in it like temporaries—they are the kind of films he was neurotically reflecting on someyou might assume are straight documen- thing from his own past. Drama can be tary, if it wasn't such a production to get construed as life without the boring bits, a film up. whereas Swanberg's argument is that That's revealed in their particular obses- there are no boring bits, at least in so far sions as much as in their esthetic, which as we're concerned about ourselves. is a very loose and unobtrusive filmThat's not necessarily a radically new ing, almost offhand in its composition. point of view, but the way its presented More importantly, though, Swanberg is by Swanberg is at least unique. His re-

DVCD TIVE

DETE

cent allegiance with Noah Baumbach— Baumbach is a producer here, and cast frequent Swanberg collaborator Gretta Gerwig in his latest, Greenberg—provides an interesting contrast to Baumbach's work, especially early stuff like Kicking and Screaming. In their own way, those characters are put in situations just as minutely important as in Alexander the Last, but Baumbach jazzes it up with effortlessly sharp dialogue and a more propulsive, wide-ranging plot.

Swanberg wants none of that, it seems like for fear that it will dilute the message: his characters aren't especially eloquent, they're more prone to conversations about pictures they've taken than mini-pop culture essays or even exploring their emotional states, and they don't do a lot of learning or changing or growing. In short, they feel a lot more like real people.

This tactic can be a little more welcome

philosophically than in actual practice— that is, if this kind of thing appeals to you at all—especially since Swanburg doesn't always have the gift of unobtrusively placing a camera in the perfect spot that a lot of other top-flight realist filmmakers have. Compared to his earlier film Nights and Weekends, which seemed like a bit of a breakthrough in terms of emotional punch and tight construction, Alexander the Last is a bit more haphazard and muted, and has more dry spells.

Swanberg also includes a kind of metacommentary on his own filmmaking in the form of the play that Alex, the eponymous actress, is rehearsing, a relationship drama where the director and playwright struggle to do things like make a sex scene "more intimate and more real than they're used to seeing." It's a useful justification for what he's doing, but it distracts from the more interesting, complex story at hand.

That is the growing attraction between Alex and her fellow actor Jamie, an earnest if somewhat drifting hunk new to New York. With her husband off on tour with his band, they form what at first is just an extra-professional camaraderie, but quickly grows more complicated. Things only get moreso when Alex's flirtatious

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

sister gets involved with him, and so the tangled-but-intimate sibling relationship gets tossed into the mix as well.

These parts are so absorbing because of Swanberg's knack for the very small gesture, the little actions and inactions that give away far more than anything the characters say. But because we know no grand speeches are forthcoming, no innermost thoughts are going to get spilled out, these little things take on a grand importance. The way Jamie casually puts his arm around Alex's chair while they talk, then plucks a loose thread off her shirt, is flirting without declaration, a safe and ambivalent gesture towards a married woman. His cool smile when dealing with Alex's sister is a little more brazen and open. In one of the best shots of the film, Alex cleans a toilet in the bathroom while her phone buzzes in the foreground, and her inattention speaks volumes.

It's those kind of little moments that make Swanberg such a worthwhile filmmaker. They reveal a painfully sharp observer of how humans act, and someone who feels that doesn't need any dressing up to make worthy of our attention, which is something rare in film indeed. V

FILM // 29

FILM REVIEWS 



LIFE ST EA INE SAV 'S F TO LYN OK BRO

Film Capsules

Now Playing Brooklyn's Finest

Directed by Antoine Fuqua Written by Michael C. Martin Starring Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes



Three cops, three stories, three deeply felt fantasies of cash, corruption and jaded masculinity. If it sounds too easy for a crime drama auteur like Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Shooter) to pull off, you might be right. Luckily, three fairly paperback tales are weaved nicely into a layered imagining of Brooklyn undoubtedly inspired by the most recent Grand Theft Auto instalment, and time feels surprisingly well spent.

Family man Sal (Ethan Hawke) struggles to provide for his pregnant wife (Lili Taylor) and three children, only to find himself tempted by money seized in his team's daily drug busts. Meanwhile, Tango (Don Cheadle) knows too well that being African-American keeps him an undercover brother for every mission, as he effortlessly thwarts the criminal activity plaguing the Brooklyn projects. A promotion to a detective desk job arrives in the cruel form of deception—to put his recently jail-freed pal Caz (Wesley Snipes) back in prison by drawing him hesitantly back to his old tricks. Last but not least, beat cop Eddie (Richard Gere) approaches retirement and finds his patience is drained while training a few naively eager rookies.

Brooklyn's Finest flows nicely through a series of both predictable encounters and staggering twists, implementing a package that is leakless enough to be judged as competent craftmanship. Individually, the plotlines hit each a single note and mostly teeter on ordinary— that's partly how the film's fast pace succeeds by moving quickly from each character to develop itself as a captivating whole. It's an appropriate example to screen for pupils studying the structure of three-act storytelling, especially as the protagonists represent three different variations in the same career and setting.

On that level, it elevates no further past fun, which, at this point in the year, risks falling through the cracks when that's already being offered by blue 3-D martians and the Mad Hatter. As a gritty and real alternative, however, Brooklyn's Finest is most alluring in Gere's segment, proving his salt-and-pepper versatility in a purely sensitive role that, at one point, could lead in any direction. After Eddie's failed, and most certainly extra-textual attempt at whisking his favorite prostitute off to a

30 // FILM

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

better life in Connecticut, we're so caught up in Pretty Woman reminiscences that the forthcoming character resolution comes from out of sight.

Hawke and Cheadle are in familiar territory, as men troubled by the easily prescribed roles that their race provides for them in the occupation. There's nothing new to learn here, and is best viewed in its relationship to the moody, albeit recognizable locations. Having coincidentally discovered GTA IV only days earlier, I couldn't resist comparing every shady subway underside and strip mall parking lot to my new-found gaming experience.

In turn, Brooklyn's Finest nonetheless visits somewhere we've all likely been to in one cultural form or another.

Jonathan Busch

// Jonathan@vueweekly.com

To Save a Life

Directed by Brian Baugh Written by Jim Britts Starring Randy Wayne, Deja Kreutzberg, Joshua Weigel



To Save a Life is another example of a Christian ministry trying to woo followers through film, though this is a pretty different kind of Christianity than the evangelical brand of the Sherwood ministry, the baptist church that brought us the choke-you-with-Jesus films Fireproof and Facing the Giants. The New Song ministry that produced this is obviously more the minister-with-an-electric-guitarand-shirt-sleeves type of church, a point hammered home by the band set-up that remains constantly on the stage where the helpful minister of this particular tale preaches.

If you will forgive an unbeliever an aside—though it's probably more interesting than anything about this film, which, for its good intentions, is a heavily-padded slog—isn't your faith kind of weak if you need church to be exciting and non-judgemental and such to bother attending? If you genuinely believe that your immortal soul is at stake here, who really cares if its boring or if your church leaders have some harsh words for people who violate the tenets of their faith?

I would rather the world was without the more voracious kinds of evangelicals and extremists, but they are at least willing to make the full Kierkegaardian leap into irrationality, which seems sort of crucial. It just seems like, once you've started compromising, why do you really need any of it? There are other options.

Because there's really nothing in To Save a Life's message that you couldn't get out

of humanism. It's basically a morality lesson in the importance of reaching out and connecting with people: all-star athlete Jake Taylor (Randy Wayne) has a crisis of conscience after his childhood friend Roger (Robert Bailey Jr.) kills himself in the middle of school. They had drifted apart because the limping Roger—in a treacly plot point, he got it while pushing Jake out of the way of a car—wasn't cool enough for Jake's athlete pals, and Jake is wracked with guilt over not reaching out to Roger. Enter pastor Chris (Joshua Weigel), to show Jake, in a laid-back and non-judgmental way, how having God in his life will help him prevent such things in the future. And then Jake does just that, with another outcast kid who wears a black hoodie.

That said, there are a few little ugly bits that seems a little indicative of religious myopia. The people in the film who don't truly invest in Christian beliefs are completely devoid of compassion at best, and are life-destroying assholes at worst.

There also seems something a little heinous in suggesting that all kids contemplating suicide need is an outstretched hand: it's fine for encouraging people to help others, but it's a pretty shitty thing to suggest to, say, the parents of a kid that committed suicide, to say nothing of a kind of gross oversimplification of the motivations of suicide. And the film gives you plenty of time to contemplate such questions, since what's on screen is rarely engaging or dramatic.

David Berry

// david@vueweekly.com

Opening Friday Our Family Wedding

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa Written by Famuyiwa, Wayne Conley, Malcom Spellman Starring Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia



It's kind of odd how ethnic minorities can get away with a kind of latent hostility towards each other. Not that, by any stretch of the imagination, Our Family Wedding is any kind of exploration of race relations, but that's sort of the point.

It's incredibly doubtful that if, say, it was a white family who was nervous about their daughter marrying a black man, it would be played as a wacky comedy/sentimental story about the importance of family. But a good chunk of the attempted humour here comes from a racist Mexican grandmother spouting off Spanish-language insults, or Forest Whitaker's entitled father insinuating bad things about Hispanics

FILM REVIEWS

Film Capsules (to say nothing of the canned and stereotypical portrayal of a "Mexican wedding," complete with Mexican hicks and a goat).

I guess as long as all parties concerned aren't part of the majority, racism is still just a funny throwback or something.

Not that, again, Our Family Wedding lets any such problems trouble its mind.

It is a romantic comedy so familiar it is the equivalent of a crooning standard, though in this case the kind you'd hear at a hotel bar on a lonely Thursday night.

America Ferrera and Lance Gross have a charming-enough chemistry as the couple from two different worlds who have to reconcile their families before they can get hitched, but they're about the only right choice here. Forest Whitaker just feels out of place as an aging playboy, and whatever his other talents, comedy this broad—in one scene, he gets humped by the aforementioned goat after it eats some of his viagra—fits him worse than the loud, double-breasted suits he's tucked into throughout. Carlos Mencia has an energetic, broadly stereotypical stand-up thing that obviously works for him, but he is a grating and hammy actor, always looking for the punchline without bothering to nail down the set up. As a result, a lot of the comedy, which depends on their acrimonious relationship, falls flat, if it distinguishes itself at all.

To be fair, Our Family Wedding is actually not bad at getting across the emotional pitfalls of feuding families, thanks in large part to Ferrera and Gross' chemistry. The ups and downs are all far too familiar to carry any kind of serious emotional weight, but they are at least delivered with enough aplomb to make you forget the Whitaker and Mencia bickering, which tends to suck life out of the film as opposed to brighten it. Still, it says something about a sentimental comedy when it can't ever get the latter half of that description right.

David Berry

// david@vueweekly.com

Opening at the Metro Marina of the Zabbaleen

Fri, Mar 12 (7 pm) Sat, Mar 13 (8 pm) Written and directed by Engi Wassef Metro Cinema (9828 - 101A Ave)



Garbage scares a lot of us—it's hard to talk about, and practically nightmarish in how we imagine it ends up following its grand departure from our backyards and alleyways. Even recycling remains mysterious, considering we are at most responsible for sorting through it in its preliminary stages. What methods used to deem them anew are vague in the minds of non-experts, not to mention how much of what gets tossed in blue bags is actually included in the process.

But waste no doubt represents for many a kind of shame or guilt that is better left in another's care.

For the Zabbaleen, a community of unemployed garbage collectors in Egypt, the country's trash governs their way of life. In short, the men of the El Moqattam village on the outskirts of Cairo spend the day gathering garbage while their wives and children find the recyclabe materials to sell for profit. The sole source of income for these villagers, it also indirectly acts as the country's sanitation system.

Morocco

Sun, Mar 14 (7 pm) Directed by Josef Von Sternberg Written by Benno Vigny, Jules Furthman Starring Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou Metro Cinema (9828 - 101A Ave)



NG

DDI

WE ILY M A F OUR STRIPES  TE I WH 

Marina of the Zabbaleen witnesses the lifestyle through the eyes of a child living at its centre. The wide-eyed imagination of young Marina captures their day-to-day trials, from work to school to church, most of which the film shares in carefully selected imagery that makes up her understanding of the world. On top of the heaps of garbage, dead animals and neighborhood hostility, she retains a loving and playful quality that is rooted in family and their constant adjustment to survival.

A few timely and relevant issues play a dominant role as they effect the lives of the Zabbaleen, keeping the film fresh as it plays out the impoverished struggle.

These inhabitants of Cairo help make up the five percent of Egypt's Christian population, and despite their marginalization, they take advantage of the no-pork Muslim rule as the pigs that roam the streets gobble up the organic leftovers of their trash findings. At the same time as Egypt makes plans to outsource waste management, the spread of the H1N1 virus eliminates a massive number of their snouted helpers. The film is unable to address how the Zabbaleen may overcome this threat to their practice, leaving a cliffhanger resolution that foregrounds the significance of global awareness that a film of this kind is primarily about.

Engi Wassef's film locates these values through a kind of storytelling that reflects how Marina adapts, and in turn, provides a thoughtful experience for an audience more than likely uncomfortable with the events at hand. The style validates not only fear and shock but also a spiritual wonder and well-being, two opposing spheres that drive our interest in globally revealing documentaries that skew and mirror our own particular lifestyles.

Jonathan Busch

// Jonathan@vueweekly.com

This Sunday's showing of Morocco is the first in a mini-series of the films of Josef Von Sternberg, but it's Marlene Dietrich that leaves the most lasting impression in this tale of a cabaret singer who falls in love with a Legionnaire. Notwithstanding Von Sternberg's intricate production design and soft lenses, which certainly add a romantic charm, Dietrich elevates what is otherwise a trifle of a romantic story with her magnetism and presence, summing up more with a smouldering look than her phonetically-learned English could ever hope to.

You very quickly begin to understand why movie stars became such a big deal while watching an actress like Dietrich: there is no charm quite like the one captured by the camera, and Dietrich was one of the original naturals—with Von Sternberg's soft lighting serving as her backdrop, she is allowed to shine all the brighter.

Dietrich plays Amy Jolly, a world-weary chanteuse escaping some kind of rough past in Europe for the hot sands of Morocco, gorgeous to look at in Von Sternberg's conception but seemingly loathed by all the non-natives who have settled here.

One other such foreigner, with an equally wearying past, is Tom Brown (Gary Cooper), a suave and charming Legionnaire who nevertheless seems rather worn out by the fighting, if not life itself. He pretty much loses all free will after seeing Jolly's cabaret act, a tuxedo affair that shows of Dietrich's chops and distinguishes itself from the myriad other starlet-showcases that pop up in this era with a same-sex kiss, something that had the public a-titter back in 1930, and still has a potent comic effect today.

But it's Dietrich and Cooper's scenes together that tend to linger here. Cooper has a very easy, insouciant way about him that suits perfectly the kind of character who would sign up to fight for another country in another country, and it's a great juxtaposition with Dietrich, who is flirty but still a moody and intense presence, her brooding looks some combination of hurt, intrigue and sex appeal. Their scene backstage after the cabaret performance is just kind of intoxicating, and while it sort of advances the relationship at a speed and intensity that feel a bit forced for film's sake, they clearly establish the chemistry of a beautiful friendship. If nothing else, it should also prove that, besides the scenery, Von Sternberg had a way with actors, even if it was nothing more than knowing when to let them do their thing.

David Berry

// david@vueweekly.com

Under Great White Northern LIghts Fri, Mar 12, Sun, Mar 14 (9 pm) Sat, Mar 13 (9:30 pm) Directed by Emmett Malloy Starring The White Stripes Metro Cinema (9828 - 101A Ave)



St John's, NFLD. The White Stripes—singer/ guitarist Jack White and drummer/occasional singer Meg White—takes a stage in front of a crowd of gathered fans, all huddled as CONTINUED ON PAGE 33 >>

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

FILM // 31

COMMENT >> SNL

Must-see TV?

The Internet's forcing television to incorporate it or be left behind Nobody watches TV anymore. That is to say, no longer in the traditional sense.

If CTV.ca's crisp Olympics streaming has taught us anything, it's that you don't necessarily need a TV to watch programming originally intended for that medium. Paying for cable seems extravagant during a period where we control our entertainment more than HE H ever. You can buy a DVD of a WATC worthy program to support the people behind it directly or you can just download om eekly.c or stream it like everything @vuew roland else we enjoy and drape our Rolanrdton personalities around. Appointe P mbe ment viewing is no longer about Seinfeld and Friends back-to-back; it's become isolated to live events (Super Bowl, Oscars, MTV VMAs). And when you take it out of the sporting realm, most people just wait for the greatest hits to get uploaded to Gawker.

That said, I felt a strong gravitational pull to watch Zach Galifianakis host Saturday Night Live this past weekend THE DUDE ABIDES >> Comedians like Zach Galifianakis are known more for Internet appearances than televised ones // Supplied and realized I would have to find a TV to do so. A few messages and phone calls later, my hunt eventually rewarded me sketch shows inherently possess. He is lampooned CNN gathering its news from with some well-timed zaniness, but also a physical performer who relies more online tips), shows are becoming more a few revelations about how the medi- on randomness than traditional com- aware that they have to use the Internet um has changed. Firstly, Zach's inability edy tropes. The appeal of seeing people or be outmoded by it. Shows are now to completely flourish seems related do pre-written sketches live is minimal made with the audience in mind. Zach's to the anachronistic limitations most when the product ends up being so low usual haunt, the completely unhinged brow and unadventurous. Live improv Adult Swim program Tim And Eric Awecomedy puts this model to shame. some Show, Great Job!, exhibits this perThis was my first time watching a full fectly. The sketches are freeform, bizarre episode of SNL as it happened since and absent of convention, frequently I was old enough to know my whisky satirizing mainstream comedy's failings. from my rum, and it was only because Its short length (11 minutes) and hyperit featured someone who could poten- referential nature make it a product as tially subvert the format. One thing I well as a response to the Internet. Conoticed was a punchline referencing medians like Galifianakis are allowed to Chatroulette, the randomized Skype- riff and alienate to their heart's content esque website that has recently taken in such a framework. house parties from here to Helsinki by Some traditional sectors of TV storm. A friend of mine skipped coming choose to remain insular, ignoring the to watch the show to go drink and play zeitgeist. Last Sunday's Oscars tried to Chatroulette with people. sell us on bigger is better, that more of what they've been doing already is One of the reasons that SNL is filmed what the people want. More hosts, live is to allow for the highest relevance more extended testimonials on the of material possible. But while it seems best actors and actresses, more best that a week of writing and preparation picture nominees but still no increase is not sufficient time to totally achieve in connection to the audience, the peothis goal, they are at least making con- ple paying for what is being awarded. cessions to their audience with such Now, unfortunately, the most catharreferences to the Internet. They are sis people can expect from watching aware that people are generating their event programming is from tweeting own entertainment elsewhere. about how bad it is. V To ignore the Internet would be to ignore the audience. Much like how print Roland Pemberton is a musician and writmedia's new survival instinct is to hunt er, as well as Edmonton's Poet Laureate. for the scoop from the web before people His TV column appears in Vue Weekly on consider the source (another SNL sketch the second Thursday of each month.

NEL C H AENR O Z

32 // FILM

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010

FILM REVIEWS

Film Capsules << CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

FILM WEEKLY

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language, crude content) No passes Daily 12:20, 3:25, 7:25, 10:20

FRI, MAR 12– THU, MAR 18, 2010

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language) No passes Daily 12:50, 4:10, 7:15, 10:00

EDMONTON FILM SOCIETY

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

Royal Alberta Museum, 102 Ave, 128 St, 780.439.5284

not recommended for young children) No passes Daily 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:30; Digital 3d: Daily 11:45, 12:45, 2:30, 3:30, 5:10, 7:00, 7:50, 10:00, 10:30

SAHARA (PG) Mon 8:00

close to the stage as possible and buzzing with excitement over the thrill of being right there on the ground as the duo, cutting its way across the North on a high profile tour of Canada, performs a surprise show ahead of the scheduled full-meal deal. Anticipation hangs heavy overhead as Meg sits behind the drums, Jack takes his guitar, and the two of them play ... a single note. They wave, turn around and leave.

The crowd falls into step and a chant begins: "One more note. One more note."

It's a moment that's been carefully constructed to epitomize rock 'n' roll, the White Stripes breaking the rules every step of the way, whether in the impromptou performance or in the one-note-andrun approach. It's very much the way Jack has designed the band.

At one point in Under Great White Northern Lights, filmmaker Emmett Malloy's documentary of the White Stripes' Canadian venture, Jack offers a succint analysis of the band, suggesting that the limitations—many of which are there by choice—are actually catalysts for creativity within the music. He claims that by doing things like placing his picks at the back of the stage, he has to work a little bit harder to get another if he drops the one he's using, and that effort will be reflected in the music. And, really, it's an astute observation: isn't all rock 'n' roll music about making choices—two guitars or one? Keyboards or not? Red and white dress code or street clothes?—and working within the resulting limitations and doing as much as possible with the tools at hand?

As a whole, Under Great White Northern Lights subscribes to a less-is-more approach that is similar to the band's esthetic, avoiding any overbearing narration in favour of a combination of letting Jack speak for the duo—which he does perceptively throughout—documenting the unrestrained energy of the band on stage and simply observing, whether alongside the Whites as they marvel at the people and the surroundings or as a fly on the wall as the duo explores various locales.

Some of what Malloy captures is predictable, if still somewhat charming: when the Whites set up in the weather-beaten, distinctly northern landscape of Nunavut, they meet with a group of Inuit elders and the camera zones in on Jack's genuine interest in gleaning first-hand knowledge from the elders when it likely would have been easier for him to turn to Google for answers to his questions; Jack comes across as someone thirsty not only for knowledge, but also for the experience itself.

There are missteps here—the effect of overlaying the White Stripes' "We Are Going to be Friends" on footage of Jack and Meg off stage is heavyhanded sentimentality—but those are offset with plenty of less designed moments, the most tender of which—in a sideways sort of way—comes when Meg apologizes to Jack after a show for not being on her game; he disagrees and believes that it was a very good show. It's a revealing scene that tells much of both their relationship and the subjectivity that inevitably comes into play where music is concerned, and it's in intimate moments like that where Under Great White Northern Lights is at its best.

Eden Munro

// eden@vueweekly.com

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A)

NFB FILM CLUB Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq, 780.496.7070

WATERLIFE (STC) Thu, Mar 18: 6:30

Daily 12:15, 4:20, 7:20, 10:25

s

6094 Connaught Dr, Jasper, 780.852.4749

WOLFMAN (18A, gory violence) Fri-Sat 7:00, 9:00; Sun-Thu 8:00

CINEMA CITY MOVIES 12 JAWANI ZINDABAD (STC)

Fri-Wed 1:20; Thu 1:00

MY NAME IS KHAN (PG, mature subject matter,

Daily 4:45, 7:40, 10:10

WHEN IN ROME (PG) SHERLOCK HOLMES (PG, violence, not recom-

Daily 9:45

mended for young children) Fri, Sun-Thu 12:00, 3:45, 6:55, 10:05; Sat 3:45, 6:55, 10:05

THE LOVELY BONES (PG, mature subject matter,

AVATAR 3D (PG, violence, not recommended for young children) Digital 3d Daily 11:30, 3:00, 6:30, 10:00

violence) Daily 1:05, 4:00, 6:50, 9:45

IT'S COMPLICATED (14A) Daily 1:50, 4:25, 7:25, 10:00

CARMEN (BIZET) Metropolitan Opera–Encore Performance (Classification not available)

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL (G)

Sat 11:00

CITY CENTRE 9

Fri-Sat 1:25, 4:30, 7:05, 9:20, 11:20; Sun-Thu 1:25, 4:30, 7:05, 9:20

10200-102 Ave, 780.421.7020

PRINCESS AND THE FROG (G)

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

Fri-Sat 1:40, 4:10, 7:15, 9:25, 11:35; Sun-Thu 1:40, 4:10, 7:15, 9:25

content, not recommended for children) Dolby Stereo Digital, Stadium Seating Daily 12:15, 3:25, 6:30, 9:35

INVICTUS (PG, coarse language)

Fri-Sat 1:10, 4:00, 6:45, 9:40, 12:15; Sun-Thu 1:10, 4:00, 6:45, 9:40

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) No Passes, Stadium Seating, DTS Digital, Digital 3d Daily 12:00, 12:30, 2:35, 3:30, 5:10, 6:45, 7:45, 9:20, 10:20

UP IN THE AIR (14A, coarse language)

Fri-Sat 1:35, 4:15, 7:10, 9:35, 12:00; Sun-Thu 1:35, 4:15, 7:10, 9:35

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

OLD DOGS (G)

Dolby Stereo Digital, Digital Daily 12:25, 3:10, 7:00, 10:00

Fri-Sat 1:45, 4:40, 7:20, 9:30, 11:40; Sun-Thu 1:45, 4:40, 7:20, 9:30

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence)

PLANET 51 (G)

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) DTS Digital, Stadium Seating, No Passes Daily 1:10, 4:00, 7:10

Stadium Seating, DTS Digital Daily 9:45

Daily 1:55, 4:45, 7:30

THE BLIND SIDE (PG, mature subject matter)

Digital Cinema Fri-Sat 1:20, 4:05, 6:55, 9:50, 12:20; Sun-Thu 1:20, 4:05, 6:55, 9:50

2012 (PG, not recommended for young children,

frightening scenes) Fri-Sat 1:10, 4:20, 7:35, 11:15; Sun-Thu 1:10, 4:20, 7:35

AVATAR (PG, violence, not recommended for young children) Stadium Seating, Digital Presentation Daily 1:00, 5:00, 9:00 BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A)

Stadium Seating, DTS Digital Fri-Sun, Tue, Thu 12:40, 3:40, 6:40, 9:40; Mon, Wed 12:40, 3:40, 9:40

CINEPLEX ODEON NORTH 14231-137 Ave, 780.732.2236

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature subject matter) Fri-Tue, Thu 1:10, 4:00, 7:00, 9:45; Wed 4:00, 7:00, 9:45; Star & Strollers Screening: Wed 1:00 SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

crude content) No passes Daily 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:55, 10:35

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

crude content) DTS Digital, Stadium Seating Daily 12:10, 2:30, 5:05, 7:40, 10:10

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature subject matter) DTS Digital, Stadium Seating Daily 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:50, 10:25

CLAREVIEW 10

No passes Daily 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10

4211-139 Ave, 780.472.7600

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

not recommended for young children) No passes Daily 1:30, 4:30, 7:15, 10:00; Digital 3d: Daily 11:45, 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:10, 6:30, 8:00, 9:15, 10:40

content, not recommended for children) Fri 3:35, 6:35, 9:35; Sat-Sun 12:35, 3:35, 6:35, 9:35; Mon-Thu 5:10, 8:20

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A)

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence)

Daily 12:10, 3:20, 6:45, 9:50

Fri 4:50, 7:20, 10:00; Sat-Sun 1:40, 4:50, 7:20, 10:00; MonThu 5:45, 8:50

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence)

Fri-Wed 1:50, 5:00, 7:50, 10:30; Thu 1:50, 10:30

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Fri-Tue, Thu 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 10:20; Wed 4:40, 7:40, 10:20; Star & Strollers Screening: Wed 1:00 SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing content, not recommended for children) Daily 12:40, 3:50, 7:05, 10:15

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Fri 4:40, 7:15, 9:55; Sat-Sun 1:20, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55; Mon-Thu 5:40, 8:35 AVATAR (PG, violence, not recommended for young children) Fri 4:25, 8:00; Sat-Sun 12:40, 4:25, 8:00; Mon-Thu 4:30, 8:00 ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

not recommended for young children) Digital 3d, On 2 Screens, No Passes Fri 3:50, 4:30, 6:40, 7:10, 9:15, 9:45; Sat-Sun 1:10, 1:50, 3:50, 4:30, 6:40, 7:10, 9:15, 9:45; Mon-Thu 5:00, 5:30, 8:10, 8:40

recommended for young children) Daily 12:50, 3:40, 6:50, 9:30

VALENTINE'S DAY (PG, language may offend)

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A)

Daily 1:00, 3:45, 6:40, 9:40

DEAR JOHN (PG)

Fri 3:40, 6:30, 9:25; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:40, 6:30, 9:25; MonThu 5:20, 8:25

TOOTH FAIRY (G)

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

Daily 7:20, 9:55

crude content) Fri 4:20, 6:50, 9:40; Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:20, 6:50, 9:40; MonThu 5:50, 8:45

Daily 12:00, 2:20, 4:50

AVATAR 3D (PG, violence, not recommended for young children) Digital 3d Daily 11:40, 3:10, 6:35, 10:05

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature subject matter) Fri 4:00, 6:45, 9:30; Sat-Sun 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:30; MonThu 5:15, 8:30

CINEPLEX ODEON SOUTH 1525-99 St, 780.436.8585

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature subject matter) Fri, Sun-Tue 12:25, 3:10, 6:40, 9:20; Sat 12:25, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20; Wed 12:25, 3:10, 6:40, 10:00; Thu 4:00, 6:40, 9:20; Star & Strollers Screening: Thu 1:00

Fri 4:10, 7:00, 9:50; Sat-Sun 1:00, 4:10, 7:00, 9:50; MonThu 5:25, 8:15

DUGGAN CINEMA�CAMROSE

OUR FAMILY WEDDING (PG, language may offend)

Fri-Wed 12:40, 3:50, 6:50, 9:40; Thu 3:50, 6:50, 9:40; Star & Strollers Screening: Thu 1:00

6601-48 Ave, Camrose, 780.608.2144

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) Daily 7:05 9:15; Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun 2:05

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence) Daily 6:45, 9:05

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not

GALAXY�SHERWOOD PARK 2020 Sherwood Dr, 780.416.0150 Sherwood Park 780-416-0150

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY (STC) Fri-Sat 1:15, 4:10, 7:00, 9:55, 12:20; Sun-Thu 1:15, 4:10, 7:00, 9:55

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:10pm & 9:20; Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 1:10, 3:20

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

VALENTINE'S DAY (PG, language may offend) DEAR JOHN (PG)

not recommended for young children) Daily 7:05, 9:25; Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 1:05, 3:25

content, not recommended for children) Daily 6:45, 9:30

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature subject matter) Fri 3:45, 6:50, 9:40; Sat-Sun 12:20, 3:45, 6:50, 9:40; MonThu 6:50, 9:40

Fri-Sat 1:00, 4:35, 7:45, 11:00; Sun-Thu 1:00, 4:35, 7:45

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content)

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not

Fri-Tue, Thu 12:10, 3:20, 6:30, 9:15; Wed 12:10, 3:20, 9:15

violence) Hindi W/E.S.T.

recommended for young children) Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun 2:20

content, not recommended for children) Daily 7:20

recommended for young children) Daily 1:00, 4:15, 7:10, 9:50

5074-130 Ave, 780.472.9779

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 12:30, 3:40, 7:30, 10:15 content, not recommended for children) Daily 12:05, 3:15, 6:40, 9:45

Fri-Sat 7:00, 9:00; Sun-Thu 8:00

Daily 6:55 9:05; Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun 2:05

Daily 7:00 9:10; Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun 2:00

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

GREEN ZONE (14A, coarse language)

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence) Daily 1:30, 4:40, 7:45, 10:40

CHABA THEATRE�JASPER

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:10 9:10; Tue, Sat, Sun 2:10; Movies for Mommies: Fri, Mar 12: 1:00

recommended for young children) Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 12:45, 3:05

TOOTH FAIRY (G)

Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 12:55, 3:30

GARNEAU 8712-109 St, 780.433.0728

THE LAST STATION (14A)

Daily 6:50, 9:10; Sat-Sun 1:00

THE SEA INSIDE (PG, mature theme)

crude content) No passes Fri 4:10, 7:15, 10:00; Sat-Sun 12:50, 4:10, 7:15, 10:00; Mon-Thu 7:15, 10:00

Free movie and a popcorn: Sat, Mar 13, 4:00

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

CRAZY HEART (14A, coarse language, substance

No passes Fri 4:30, 7:35, 10:30; Sat-Sun 1:00, 4:30, 7:35, 10:30; Mon-Thu 7:35, 10:30

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

not recommended for young children) No passes Fri 3:30, 6:45, 9:30; Sat-Sun 12:30, 3:30, 6:45, 9:30; Mon-Thu 6:45, 9:30; Digital 3d: Fri 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Sat-Sun 11:30, 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Mon-Thu 7:30, 10:15

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A)

Fri 3:40, 7:00, 10:10; Sat-Sun 12:15, 3:40, 7:00, 10:10; MonThu 7:00, 10:10

PRINCESS 10337-82 Ave, 780.433.0728

abuse) Daily 6:45, 9:15; Sat, Sun 2:00

PRECIOUS (14A, sexual violence, coarse language, disturbing content) Daily 6:50, 9:10; Sat, Sun 2:30

SCOTIABANK THEATRE WEM WEM, 8882-170 St, 780.444.2400

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence) Daily 7:40, 10:35

subject matter) Fri-Tue, Thu 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 10:15; Wed 4:10, 7:10, 10:15; Star & Strollers Screening: Wed 1:00

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content)

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

Fri 4:40, 7:20, 9:50; Sat-Sun 1:15, 4:40, 7:20, 9:50; MonThu 7:20, 9:50

crude content) No passes Daily 11:50, 2:30, 5:00, 7:40, 10:30

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

content, not recommended for children) Fri 3:50, 7:10, 10:20; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:50, 7:10, 10:20; MonThu 7:10, 10:20

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) Fri 3:30; Sat-Sun 11:45, 3:30

AVATAR (PG, violence, not recommended for young

children) Fri 4:00, 8:00; Sat-Sun 12:00, 4:00, 8:00; Mon-Thu 8:00

GRANDIN THEATRE�ST ALBERT Grandin Mall, Sir Winston Churchill Ave, St Albert, 780.458.9822

No passes Daily 1:00, 4:00, 6:50, 9:50

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes,

not recommended for young children) No passes Fri-Sat 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:15, 11:00; Sun-Thu 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:15; Digital 3d: Fri-Sat 11:15, 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 10:10; Sun-Thu 12:30, 3:15, 6:45, 9:30

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (18A) Daily 12:20, 3:20, 7:30, 10:40

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: AN IMAX 3D EXPERI� ENCE (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for

young children) No passes Fri-Sat 10:30, 1:10, 3:50, 6:30, 9:10, 11:45; SunThu 11:30, 2:15, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence) Daily 11:45, 2:20, 4:50, 7:50, 10:45

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Fri, Sun-Tue, Thu 1:30, 4:30, 7:45, 10:45; Sat, Wed 4:30, 7:45, 10:45; Star & Strollers Screening: Wed 1:00

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:30, 9:30

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing content, not recommended for children) Daily 12:10, 3:30, 7:00, 10:20

No passes accepted Daily 12:50 3:05 5:10 7:15 9:25

content, not recommended for children) Daily 1:15, 4:00, 6:45, 9:10

THE LIGHTENING THIEF: PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS (PG, Frightening Scenes, not recommended for young children) Daily 12:40 2:55 5:05

SHES OUT OF MY LEAGUE

(14A, Coarse Language, Crude Content) No passes Daily 1:20 3:20 5:20 7:20 9:20

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) No passes Daily 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:05, 9:15

LEDUC CINEMAS Leduc, 780.352.3922

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing content, not recommended for children) Daily 9:35; Sat-Sun 3:35

COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:10; Sat-Sun. 1:10 pm GREEN ZONE (14A, coarse language) Daily 6:55, 9:25; Sat-Sun 12:55, 3:25

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

crude content) Daily 7:05, 9:35; Sat-Sun 1:05, 3:35

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

MARINA OF THE ZABBALEEN (STC) Fri 7:00; Sat 8:00

THE WHITE STRIPES: UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS (STC)

Fri, Sun 9:00; Sat 9:30

MOROCCO (STC) Sun 7:00

PARKLAND CINEMA 7 130 Century Crossing, Spruce Grove, 780.972.2332 (Spruce Grove, Stony Plain; Parkland County)

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language) Daily 6:50, 9:10; Fri Sat Sun Tue 12:50, 3:10

REMEMBER ME (PG, coarse language, mature

subject matter) Daily 7:00, 9:15; Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 1:00, 3:15; Movies for Mommies: Tue, Mar 16, 1:00

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language,

crude content) Daily 6:55, 9:00; Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue 12:55, 3:00

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) Daily 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45

VALENTINE'S DAY (PG, language may offend) Daily 12:40, 3:40, 6:40, 9:40

AVATAR 3D (PG, violence, not recommended for young children) Digital 3d Daily 11:30, 3:00, 6:30, 10:00

CARMEN (BIZET) Metropolitan Opera –Encore Performance (Classification not available) Sat 11:00

WESTMOUNT CENTRE 111 Ave, Groat Rd, 780.455.8726

GREEN ZONE (14A, violence, coarse language)

Dolby Stereo Digital Fri 7:00, 10:00; Sat-Sun 12:30, 3:30, 7:00, 10:00; Mon-Thu 5:30, 8:20

CRAZY HEART (14A, coarse language, substance

abuse) Dolby Stereo Digital Fri 6:50, 9:50; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:40, 6:50, 9:50; Mon-Thu 5:20, 8:30

THE BLIND SIDE (PG, mature subject matter) DTS Digital Fri 6:35, 9:30; Sat-Sun 12:15, 3:20, 6:35, 9:30; Mon-Thu 5:10, 8:10 SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing content, not recommended for children) DTS Digital Fri 6:25, 9:40; Sat-Sun 12:00, 3:10, 6:25, 9:40; Mon-Thu 5:00, 8:00

WETASKIWIN CINEMAS Wetaskiwin, 780.352.3922

SHUTTER ISLAND (14A, coarse language, disturbing content, not recommended for children) Daily 6:50, 9:30; Sat, Sun 12:50, 3:30

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:05, 9:35; Sat-Sun 1:05, 3:35

THE CRAZIES (18A, gory violence) Daily 9:20; Sat-Sun 3:20 COP OUT (14A, coarse language, crude content) Daily 7:10; Sat-Sun 1:10 IN WONDERLAND (PG, frightening scenes, not recommended for young children) Daily 7:00, 9:25; Sat-Sun 1:00, 3:25

FILM // 33

INSIDE // MUSIC

MUSIC

41

Stephen Fearing

44 48

Kate Maki Billy Talent

Online at vueweekly.com >>MUSIC Slide shows: Megadeth, Testament, Lorrie Matheson, Chris Page, Order of Chaos The Classical Score: highlights of the week's classical performances

PREVUE // HAWKSLEY WORKMAN

Hurts so good

simultaneously.

So for me it was a real fresh breath of air to have gone into a studio—my studio, because I recorded that one in my house— and feeling like there was not going to be any interference and that I was going to be able to do whatever I wanted. It was very liberating and it felt very free, and in many ways it was a reconnection to that old me who was a very naïve and highly opinionated rock music guy. Yeah, I just locked myself away with my engineer this time and tried to be as honest as possible. I had come out of quite of a crash-and-burn kind of relationship, so there was certainly a lot of raw emotion to be had as well.

Hawksley Workman turns heartbreak into Meat

THE DIVIDED ARTIST >> Hawksley Workman looks to Neil Young and Leonard Cohen for life lessons, Katy Perry for dancing Eden Munro // eden@vueweekly.com

H

awksley Workman is officially into his second decade of life as a professional musician, having begun with his 1999 debut For Him and the Girls and continuing in 2010 with the recent Meat and the upcoming Milk. Workman spoke with Vue at length about his new album and life in the music business. Here are some of the highlights.

VUE WEEKLY: Listening to Meat, what strikes me is that it covers a considerable amount of sonic territory, yet it works as a cohesive series of songs.

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN: Honestly I feel it's cohesive. Sadly, I've let myself read a review or two of the record and some people [agree] and some people think it's a dog's breakfast. I think that it really has a feel to it that is pretty much consistent throughout, despite the fact that there are

// Ivan Otis

different sentiments lyrically and there are mood changes in the record.

But textually, I mean I recorded the record in under two weeks so it was done very intensely and it was all done at the same time and in the same studio for the most part. I mean there weren't a whole lot of opportunities to ride off the rails and have one part of it sound like pop country and the rest sound like '90s hip hop. It all sort of feels like it came from a similar breath because they all happened

SLIDE SHOW // megadeth

Megadeth / Sun, Mar 7 / Shaw Conference Centre >> Watch THE slide show ONLINE AT vueweekly.com.

34 // MUSIC

// Eden Munro

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

VW: That definitely comes across at times on the album. "You Don't Just Want to Break Me (You Want to Tear Me Apart)" is excruciating, but in a really hypnotic way.

HW: Half of that song, the outro, I wrote after [the relationship] really had fallen apart by telephone. I was in Tasmania, Australia, and everything had kind of ended abruptly and in the most horrible way imaginable and I went, oddly enough, to see Nick Cave that night and I was walking home from the outskirts of Hobart back to my hotel in downtown Hobart, completely lost, and I was inspired by that show. That "You don't just want to break me, you want to tear me apart" lyric just kept cycling through my head and I knew that I had to build a song around it.

That song is really kind of awful and real. I don't think I've ever really written songs quite like that. I might not have had the kind of experiences before to lead to that kind of miserableness. I'm not like, I lucked out into an incredible break up that led to these great songs—I don't recommend it—but sometimes I guess for the job it can be helpful.

VW: That's so true. It seems as though the music industry tends to value

youth, but there's something to be said for the perspective that comes with age and experience.

HW: Age is a consideration in music, but it's are you 18 and how much titty are you willing to show? But I think as a man who's losing his hair and who's going to turn 35 in a month, I look to Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn, I look to these aging men in our culture because how much life wisdom are we going to get from Avril Lavigne or Kesha or whoever the next blonde entertainment offering from the American entertainment machine is? But is it speaking to you?

Is it speaking to me? What is it giving to our culture? Well, it gives us something to dance to, and I admit that I'm a huge pop music fan, but sometimes I sort of feel like the aging male, or the aging person in any capacity, male or female, are sorely under represented when you turn on the TV ... I remember buying the last collection of Leonard Cohen poetry and it was the same year I think that the Neil Young movie came out after he had had his aneurysm operation and I think Bruce Cockburn released a record that year, too, and I just thought, "I'm so glad that there are men in their 50s, 60s and 70s talking about sex, talking about religion, talking about culture, talking about relationships," because I'm sorry, you can only get so far on "I kissed a girl and I liked it."

As much as I think that's a really sick pop song, music is about life, and how much life are we going to hear out of the next MTV starlet. I don't know, maybe I'm being grumpy. V Hawksley Workman Sat, Mar 13 (3 pm) Megatunes, free Sun, Mar 14 (8 pm) Winspear Centre, $34.50

PREVUE // SHARE

So much we need to Share CAROLYN NIKODYM //CAROLYN@vueweekly.com

T

hey say that it is better to give than receive—but could that be because once you give, the other party feels compelled to give back? Because giving leads to receiving?

The aptly-named East Coast outfit Share, made sure its fans felt good about giving support by offering up a free EP. The threesong Coco et Co. was released last week, and it couldn't have been a more perfect thing to do.

Not only did Share want to thank folks for coming to shows and actually buying its last CD (Slumping in Your Morals was released last August) in this day and age, but there was also unreleased material that would match Share's Duet Tour, with Share frontman Andrew Sisk and Miranda Durka, coming through Western Canada.

"Miranda and I had made these home recordings around the same time as we made the [Slumping in Your Morals]," Sisk explains. "It's like a footnote to the album in some ways and in some ways it's kind of its own thing. So we thought, might as well give it to the fans."

Of course, Share isn't the first band to give music away—it's all about letting fans know that the band still has much to share.

"We have not received any flak," Sisk laughs, "and if anything, the industry is

sort of steering into a giving-things-awayfor-free attitude. A lot of bands will release a song early or put out singles nowadays.

And our label-mates—one of the former bands I used to play with, the Sleepless Nights—they've been releasing EPs for free as well.

"Our label, Forward Music Group, we've had a long discussion about how to go about, when people are inundated with music, and have access to any music they want to immediately: how do you maintain a listenership?" he adds. "Because, really, if people stop listening, that's cool, but at the same time, it would be nice to have people listening to our music and coming to the shows."

The lo-fi French pop-inspired melodies of the Coco et Co. EP, paired with bilingual lyrics sung by Share frontman Andrew Sisk and Share contributor Miranda Durka, is actually looking like it might turn into a side project of the same name—named after the song "Coco et Co" by Serge Gainsberg about a band that was never to be.

Lately, Sisk has found a lot more freedom to be in whatever kind of band he can dream up. Over the last couple of years he's been involved in the recording and engineering side of things more often, and building up his own home studio.

The Coco et Co. EP is one of the results.

"I'd never really done that before. I had never really engineered anything, so it was really empowering, and it saves

money in the process," he says. "We have a bunch of recordings as a result of that newfound independence."

It seems that Sisk likes to find ways to do things himself, to find his way around limitations. In 2007, he decided to do a solo cross-Canada tour using Via Rail as his main source of transportation. Given the beleaguered system's scant schedule and chronic lateness, it wasn't exactly easy, but it sure was cheap. And it led to another exchange of giving and receiving.

He played a few shows on the train for passengers on that trip, and last June, Share was able to do a band tour on the train, performing for its passage.

"People really enjoy it when it happens— the idea of being on the train and seeing live music—and just how Canadian and social the train is," Sisk says. "It's important part of Canadian history; it really brings you to some of the most beautiful parts of the country; it is just such a social, human way of travelling. And why not? If there are extra rooms, allowing musicians to play only improves the experience."

That's the whole point of music, isn't it? Its nature of giving and receiving improves our experience. V Sat, Mar 13 (8 pm) Share With Doug Hoyer Hydeaway

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 35

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

THURSDAY ARDEN THEATRE Pine Leaf Boys (Cajun); 7:30pm; $28 BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Jazz Thursday: Amelia Maciszewski quartet with Nikhil Rao (tabla), Jeremiah McDade (sax), Shannon Johnson (violin); 8pm; $15 BLUES ON WHYTE Toby BRIXX Radio Brixx with Tommy Grimes; 7-10pm CAFÉ HAVEN Tannor Gordon, Corey Smith; 7pm CENTURY CASINO The Yardbirds; 8pm; $34.95 at Century, TicketMaster CHRISTOPHER'S PARTY PUB Open stage hosted by Alberta Crude; 6-10pm CROWN AND ANCHOR Moscow Dynamo CROWN PUB Latin/world fusion jam hosted by Marko Cerda; musicians from other musical backgrounds are invited to jam; 7pm-closing THE DRUID IRISH PUB Live music with Darrell Barr; 5:308:30pm, DJ at 9pm DUSTER'S Thursday open jam hosted by the Assassins of Youth (blues/rock); 9pm; no cover DV8 Open mic Thursdays hosted by Cameron Penner/ and/or Rebecca Jane ELECTRIC RODEO�Spruce Grove Open Stage Thursday: Bring an instrument, jam/sing with the band, bring your own band, jokes, juggle, magic; 8-12 ENCORE With A Latin Twist: free Salsa Dance Lessons at 9pm ENMAX CENTRIUM ARENA�Red Deer Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Against Me, Cancer Bats; all ages; 5:45pm (door), 6:45pm (show); $29.50, $42.50 at

between 7pm and 9pm

STARLITE ROOM Oh Snap and All Blown Up: So Official Party with Jack Beats, Fake Blood, AC Slater and Boy 8 Bit; 3 room event; 8pm (door); $30 at TicketMaster, Foosh, Blackbyrd, Room 322 WILD WEST SALOON Trick Ryder

Classical BERNARD SNELL

TicketMaster

HAVEN Colin Close With Special Guests Rebecca Jane Crossman and Brooke & Tamara Sovdi; 7:30pm (door); $10 (door) HOOLIGANZ Open stage Thursdays hosted by Phil (Nobody Likes Dwight); 9pm-1:30am HYDEAWAY�Jekyl and Hyde Evolution Solution Open Jam Thursdays; 7pm JAMMERS Thursday open jam; 7-11pm J AND R Classic rock! Woo! Open stage, play with the house band every Thursday; 9pm JEFFREY'S Alfie Zappacosta; $35 JULIAN'S�Chateau Louis Graham

Lawrence (jazz piano); 8pm

L.B.'S Open jam with Ken Skoreyko; 9pm LIVE WIRE Open Stage Thursdays with Gary Thomas MARYBETH'S�Beaumont Open Mic Thursday; 7pm NAKED CYBERCAFÉ Open stage every Thursday; bring your own instruments, fully equipped stage; 8pm NEW CITY Beer Drinking Fighting Machine, The Dirtbags (punk); screening of Open Your Mouth and Say Mr. Chi Pig; no minors; 8:30pm (door); $15 (adv)/$20 (door) NORTH GLENORA HALL Jam

by Wild Rose Old Time Fiddlers PAWN SHOP The Switchmen: Shaela Miller Trio mmmBerta; 8pm (door) RED PIANO Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players; 8pm-1am RIC’S GRILL Peter Belec (jazz); every Thursday; 7-10pm SECOND CUP�Varscona Live music every Thursday night

AUDITORIUM FOYER Hear's to your Health: David Colwell (violin), Jacques Després (piano); 5pm; free

DJs BILLY BOB’S Escapack Entertainment BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Big Rock Thursdays: DJs on 3 levels–Topwise Soundsystem spin Dub & Reggae in The Underdog BUDDY'S DJ Bobby Beatz; 9pm; no cover before 10pm; Shiwana Millionaire Wet Underwear Contest FILTHY MCNASTY’S Punk Rock Bingo with DJ S.W.A.G.

Bands: The Gateway Screen and Press Cup of Dodgeball; 7pm; all ages

JULIAN'S�Chateau Louis Graham Lawrence (jazz piano); 8pm

BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ Danyluk and Card; 8pm; $15

KINGSWAY LEGION Dwayne Cannan (country, '50s/'60s, roots, originals); 7:30-11:30pm

BLUES ON WHYTE Toby BRIXX Options with Greg Gory, Eddie Lunchpail; 9pm (door); $8 (door) CARROT Live music Fridays: Back Porch Swing; all ages; 7:309:30pm; $5 (door) CASINO EDMONTON The Rum Brothers (tribute) CASINO YELLOWHEAD Robin Kelly (Elvis tribute) CENTURY CASINO Lee Aaron, Prism; $34.95 at TicketMaster, Century COAST TO COAST Open Stage

every Friday; 9:30pm

CROWN AND ANCHOR Moscow Dynamo

STARLITE ROOM Music 1st and The Techno Hippy Crew: Bassnectar, Kush Arora, Shamik and guests; 8pm TEMPLE Surely Temple Thursdays: with DJ Tron, DCD, Optimixx Prime, Miyuru Fernando; 9pm (door); $5 (cover)

FRIDAY 180 DEGREES Sexy Friday night every Friday

RED PIANO Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players; 9pm-2am RENDEZVOUS Kriticos, Colossus ROSE AND CROWN Dwaynes Spark's Project

DV8 Black Axis, Sawed off, Neural Manifest; 9pm EDDIE SHORTS Aroots Bazaar

ENCORE 4 Play Fridays

RENDEZVOUS Metal Thurzday

PAWN SHOP The Mod Club Presents: Common People (spring dance party); 9pm (door); $5; free before 10pm

THE DRUID IRISH PUB Live music with Darrell Barr; 5:30-8:30; DJ at 9pm

NEW CITY SUBURBS Bingo at 9:30pm followed by Electroshock Therapy with Dervish Nazz Nomad and Plan B (electro, retro)

with org666

ON THE ROCKS Bad Judgement with DJ Crazy Dave; 9pm

and Syn Psycle

(Latin rock)

PROHIBITION Throwback Thursday: old school r&b, hip hop, dance, pop, funk, soul, house and everything retro with DJ Service, Awesome

NEW CITY SUBURBS SNFU: Beer Drinking Fighting Machine, The Dirtbags; screening of Open Your Mouth and Say ... Mr. Chi Pig; no minors; 8:30pm (door); $15 (adv)/$20 (door)

DEVANEY'S Derina Harvey

LUCKY 13 Sin Thursdays with DJ Mike Tomas

ON THE ROCKS Salsaholic Thursdays: Dance lessons at 8pm; Salsa DJ to follow

LEVA CAFÉ Live music every

Friday

ELECTRIC RODEO�Spruce Grove Mandy Reider Band FESTIVAL PLACE Canadian Brass; 7:30pm; $40 (table)/$38 (box)/$36 (theatre) at Festival Place box office, TicketMaster FRESH START CAFÉ Live music Fridays: Drowning Ophelia; 7-10pm; $7 HAVEN One Soul Thrust, Light Travels, Tomas Marsh; 7:30pm (door); $10 (door) HORIZON STAGE Stephen Fearing; 7:30pm; $25 (adult)/$20 (student/senior) at Horizon box office, TicketMaster IRISH CLUB Jam session; 8pm;

no cover

IVORY CLUB Duelling piano show with Jesse, Shane, Tiffany and Erik and guests JEFFREY'S The Rault Brothers (folk/blues); $15 JEKYLL AND HYDE Every Friday: Headwind (classic pop/ rock); 9pm; no cover

AVENUE THEATRE Bands vs.

STARLITE ROOM PsyBass featuring Chris Organix, Self Evident, guests; 9pm (door); $15 at Foosh, $20 (door) TAPHOUSE The Me Monster, The Violet Hour, Random Falter, Bystander Effect; 8pm (door); $10 TOUCH OF CLASS�Chateau Louis Tony Dizion (pop/rock); 8:30pm WILD WEST SALOON Trick Ryder X WRECKS Red House (blues, R&B); 8pm; no cover YARDBIRD SUITE Mike Rud Quartet; 8pm (door); pm (show); $16 (member)/$20 (guest) at TicketMaster

Classical ASCENSION LUTHERAN CHURCH Hugh Dowell (tenor), Joy Berg (piano); 7:30pm; admission by donation; benefit recital for the Concordia Concert Choir, reception to follow FESTIVAL PLACE Canadian Brass I: featuring Jeff Nelsen (French horn), Chris Coletti (trumpet), Brandon Ridenour (trumpet), Gene Watts (trombone), Chuck Daellenbach (tuba); 7:30pm; $40 (table)/$38 (Box)/$36 (theatre) at the Festival Place

VENUE GUIDE 180 DEGREES 10730-107 St, 780.414.0233

SHOW

NEW CITY 10081 Jasper Ave, 780.989.5066

ARDEN THEATRE 5 St Anne St, St Albert, 780.459.1542

ELECTRIC RODEO�Spruce Grove 121-1 Ave, Spruce Grove, 780.962.1411

NIKKI DIAMONDS 8130 Gateway Blvd, 780.439.8006

ENCORE 957 Fir St, Sherwood Park, 780.417.0111

O’BYRNE’S 10616-82 Ave, 780.414.6766

ARTERY 9535 Jasper Ave ASCENSION LUTHERAN CHURCH 8405-83 St 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 BERNARD SNELL AUDITORIUM FOYER Walter Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, U of A Hospital

FACULTY CLUB University of Alberta, 780. 492.5306 FESTIVAL PLACE 100 Festival Way, Sherwood Park, 780.449.3378, 780.464.2852 FIDDLER’S ROOST 8906-99 St

ON THE ROCKS 11730 Jasper Ave, 780.482.4767 ORLANDO'S 1 15163-121 St OVERTIME Whitemud Crossing, 4211-106 St, 780.485.1717 PALACE CASINO�WEM 8882-170 St, 780.444.2112 PAWN SHOP 10551-82 Ave, Upstairs, 780.432.0814

BILLY BOB’S Continental Inn, 16625 Stony Plain Rd, 780.484.7751

FILTHY MCNASTY’S 10511-82 Ave, 780.916.1557

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE 10425-82 Ave, 780.439.1082

FLUID LOUNGE 10105-109 St, 780.429.0700

BLUE CHAIR CAFÉ 9624-76 Ave, 780.989.2861

FRESH START CAFÉ Riverbend Sq, 780.433.9623

BLUES ON WHYTE 10329-82 Ave, 780.439.3981

HAVEN 15120A (basement), Stony Plain Rd, 780.756.6010

BOOTS 10242-106 St, 780.423.5014

HILL TOP PUB 8220-106 Ave, 780.490.7359

BRIXX 10030-102 St (downstairs), 780.428.1099

HOOLIGANZ PUB 10704-124 St, 780.452.1168

REDNEX�Morinville 10413-100 Ave, Morinville, 780.939.6955, rednex.ca

B�STREET 111818-111 Ave

HORIZON STAGE 1001 Calahoo Rd, Spruce Grove, 780.962.8995

RED PIANO 1638 Bourbon St, WEM, 8882-170 St, 780.486.7722

HYDEAWAY/JEKYLL AND HYDE 10209-100 Ave, 780.426.5381

RED STAR 10538 Jasper Ave, 780.428.0825

IRON BOAR PUB 4911-51st St, Wetaskiwin

RIC’S GRILL 24 Perron Street, St Albert, 780.460.6602

BUDDY’S 11725B Jasper Ave, 780.488.6636 CAFÉ HAVEN 9 Sioux Road, Sherwood Park CASINO EDMONTON 7055 Argylll Rd, 780.463.9467 CASINO YELLOWHEAD 12464-153 St, 780 424 9467 CENTURY ROOM 3975 Calgary Tr. NW, 780.431.0303 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 Tr, 780.439.8675 CONVOCATION HALL Arts Bldg, U of A, 780.492.3611 COPPERPOT Capital Place, 101, 9707-110 St, 780.452.7800 CROWN AND ANCHOR 15277 Castledowns Rd, 780.472.7696 CROWN PUB 10709-109 St, 780.428.5618 DEVANEY’S IRISH PUB 9013-88 Ave, 780.465.4834 DIESEL ULTRA LOUNGE 11845 Wayne Gretzky Drive, 780.704 DRUID 11606 Jasper Ave, 780.454.9928 DUSTER’S PUB 6402-118 Ave, 780.474.5554 DV8 TAVERN 8307-99 St, DV8TAVERN.com EARLY STAGE SALOON 4911-52 Ave, Stony Plain EDMONTON EVENTS CENTRE WEM Phase III, 780.489.

36 // MUSIC

EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ 9938-70 Ave

NORTH GLENORA HALL 13535-109A Ave

FLOW LOUNGE 11815 Wayne Gretzky Dr, 780.604.CLUB

IVORY CLUB 2940 Calgary Trail South JAMMERS PUB 11948-127 Ave, 780.451.8779 J AND R 4003-106 St, 780.436.4403

PLANET INDIGO�Jasper Ave 11607 Jasper Ave; St Albert 812 Liberton Dr, St Albert PLAY NIGHTCLUB 10220-103 St PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL 10860-57 Ave PROHIBITION 11026 Jasper Ave, 780.420.0448

RENDEZVOUS 10108-149 St RITCHIE UNITED CHURCH 9624-74 Ave, 780.439.2442 ROBERTSON WESLEY UNITED CHURCH 10209 123 St

JEFFREY’S CAFÉ 9640 142 St, 780.451.8890

ROBERT TEGLER STUDENT CENTRE Concordia Campus, 73 St, 112 Ave

JUBILEE AUDITORIUM 11455-87 Ave, 780.429.1000

ROSEBOWL/ROUGE LOUNGE 10111-117 St, 780.482.5253

L.B.’S PUB 23 Akins Dr, St Albert, 780.460.9100

ROSE AND CROWN 10235-101 St, 780.426.7827

LEGENDS PUB 6104-172 St, 780.481.2786

ST BASIL’S CULTURAL CENTRE 10819-71 Ave

LEVEL 2 LOUNGE 11607 Jasper Ave, 2nd Fl, 780.447.4495

SABOR DIVINO 10220-103 St, 780.757.1114

LIVE WIRE 1107 Knotwood Rd. East

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

MACLAB CENTRE�Leduc 4308-50 St, Leduc, 780.980.1866 MARYBETH'S COFFEE HOUSE�Beaumont 5001-30 Ave, Beaumont MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH 10025-101 St

SIDELINERS PUB 11018-127 St, 780.453.6006 STARLITE ROOM 10030-102 St, 780.428.1099

MORANGO’S TEK CAFÉ 10118-79 St

STEEPS�College Plaza 11116-82 Ave, 780.988.8105; Old Glenora 12411 Stony Plain Rd, 780.488.1505

MUTTART HALL�Alberta College 10050 Macdonald Dr, 780.489.9580

TAPHOUSE 9020 McKenney Ave, St Albert, 780.458.0860

NAKED CYBERCAFÉ 10354 Jasper Ave NEWCASTLE PUB 6108-90 Ave, 780.490.1999

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

WILD WEST SALOON 12912-50 St, 780.476.3388 WUNDERBAR 8120-101 St, 780.436.2286 X WRECKS 9303-50 St

COMMENT >> RECORDS

Appetite for vinyl classics

Resurgence in popularity of records is founded in the past By now, everyone in the music industry ple who are flocking back to vinyl are not has jumped on the vinyl bandwagon: choosing to buy the latest hits. sales of the format are increasing astroWhat was the best-selling vinyl album nomically, and the record stores that are of 2009? The Beatles' Abbey Road, which still standing are increasing the amount was number two overall in 2008. of vinyl on the shelves while reducing Michael Jackson's Thriller was number the CD space. two in vinyl sales, understandable Nielsen Soundscan reported with all the nostalgia buffs that the industry sold 2.5 who flocked to purchase his million vinyl records in the music after his death. But US in 2009; that's a whopthe top 10 is littered with reom .c ly k e e @vuew ping 33 percent increase over cords not released in 2009, steven 2008. Now, understand that Steveonr whether they be holdovers music sales as a whole, includfrom recently-released but Sand ing downloads and CD sales, not brand-new hipster albums, increased by only 2.1 percent. Even if like Radiohead's In Rainbows or Fleet vinyl would have held its own in a reces- Foxes' self-titled effort, or oldies like sionary period, that would have been re- Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction markable. But a format that's by far the (at number nine in 2009, woo-hoo!) priciest of any of the options increasing its sales numbers at four times the rate of But why does Abbey Road, recorded more digital track sales? than 40 years ago, still hold the standard Amazon has launched its own special when it comes to vinyl sales? vinyl store; interesting that the world's You could make the argument that the most famous online retailer is embracing fact that the Beatles doesn't have its the oldest form of recorded music. songs on iTunes pushes consumers to"Welcome home, fellow audio purist," wards vinyl. But, if that was the case, the reads the home page of the online vi- top 10 would be dominated by Beatles' nyl store. "Behold the home of Vinyl albums. But, the truth is, new vinyl pressRecords on Amazon.ca. Browse through ings of The White Album, Rubber Soul, our selection of genres such as Alterna- Revolver, Let it Be or Sergeant Pepper's tive Rock, Pop, and Jazz. Be a part of the Lonely Hearts Club Band don't come close vinyl revolution." to the vinyl sales of Abbey Road.

Notice that dance music, the form Yes, in 2009, a special vinyl, 40th anmost associated with vinyl in pop cul- niversary edition of Abbey Road was reture, isn't mentioned. leased, but that can't explain the sales What's really interesting is that the re- spike, as the 2008 numbers were strong. cords that sell well on vinyl don't come And that special 40th-anniversary vinyl close to resembling the pop charts. Peo- box set was a limited-edition release of

ENTER

SAND

box office

MUTTART HALL�Alberta College Edmonton Classical Guitar Society: Gabriel Bianco; 8pm; $25/$20 (student/senior/ ECGS member) at TIX on the Square, Avenue Guitars, Acoustic Music Shop, ADW Music St Albert, door WINSPEAR CENTRE Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, The Roby Lakatos Ensemble; 8pm; $24-$79 at Winspear box office

DJs AZUCAR PICANTE Every Friday: DJ Papi and DJ Latin Sensation BAR WILD Bar Wild Fridays BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Friday DJs spin Wooftop and Main Floor: Eclectic jams with Nevine–indie, soul, motown, new wave, electro; Underdog: Perverted Fridays: Punk and Ska from the ‘60s ‘70s and ‘80s with Fathead BOOTS Retro Disco: retro dance BUDDY’S DJ Arrow Chaser; 8pm; no cover before 10pm ESMERELDA'S Ezzies Freakin Frenzy Fridays: Playing the best in country LEVEL 2 Formula Fridays: with rotating residents DJ's Groovy Cuvy, Touretto, David Stone, DJ Neebz and Tianna J; 9:30pm (door); 780.447.4495 for guestlist NEWCASTLE Fridays House, dance mix with DJ Donovan NEW CITY LIKWID LOUNGE DJ Anarchy Adam (Punk) PLAY NIGHTCLUB The first bar for the queer community to open in a decade with DJ's Alexx Brown and Eddie Toonflash; 9pm (door); $5 www.playnightclub.ca REDNEX DJ Gravy from the Source 98.5 RED STAR Movin’ on Up Fridays: indie, rock, funk, soul, hip hop with DJ Gatto, DJ Mega Wattson

OR

TEMPLE T.G.I Psydays; 9pm

45s; 9pm; $6

SATURDAY

EARLY STAGE SALOON�Stony Plain Saturday Live Music

180 DEGREES Dancehall and Reggae night every Saturday

EDDIE SHORTS Prairie Thunder (rock and roll )

ALBERTA BEACH HOTEL Open stage with Trace Jordan 1st and 3rd Saturday; 7pm-12

ELECTRIC RODEO�Spruce Grove Mandy Reider Band

ARTERY Yes Nice, Darren Frank; 8pm; $7 (door) AVENUE THEATRE Krisi’s Calvocade of Chaos, Hostile Hero; no minors; $20 BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Hair of the Dog: live acoustic music every Saturday afternoon; this week Gordie Tentrees; 4-6pm; no cover BLUE CHAIR Alberta Touring Alliance OnStage; 10am-4pm; no cover BLUE CHAIR Prairie Cats; 8pm; $10 BLUES ON WHYTE Saturday Afternoon Jam; Toby (evening) BRIXX Evolution Solution: Zeitgeist Day, Light Travels, Drake’s Theory, The Equation; 9pm (door); $12 (door) CARROT Open mic Saturdays; 7:30-10pm; free CASINO EDMONTON The Rum Brothers (tribute) CASINO YELLOWHEAD Robin Kelly (Elvis tribute) COAST TO COAST Live bands every Saturday; 9:30pm CROWN AND ANCHOR Moscow Dynamo CROWN Acoustic Open Stage during the day/Electric Open Stage at night with Marshall Lawrence, 1:30pm (sign-up), every Saturday, 2-5pm; evening: hosted

by Dan and Miguel; 9:30pm12:30am DEVANEY'S Derina Harvey DV8 Rockabilly with Eve Hell and the Razors and the Smokin'

EMPRESS ALE HOUSE Eamon McGrath; 3-5pm EXPRESSIONZ CAFÉ Open stage every Sat, 12-6pm FESTIVAL PLACE The Stars from the Commitments, Kenneth McCluskey and Dick Massey (pop/rock); sold out HAVEN Squeeze Me!–A TriAccordion Event: Maria Dunn, Jason Kodie, Marie Josee Houle; 8pm; $15 at TIX on the Square/$20 (door)

5000, so even a sellout wouldn't have made a huge dent in the charts.

Check the Amazon vinyl store and you will find a huge selection of Beatles vinyl in stock—some priced at less than $20— so it's not like there's an availability issue with the other albums.

No, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Abbey Road was the perfect example of the vinyl album: songs flow into each other. Each side has its own feel, ambience. You can't really take one track out of the mix. It needs to be heard from the first song on the album all the way until you hear the hiss of the needle looping at the end of a side.

And, because dance music isn't what's fuelling the vinyl revolution—rather, people who are rejecting the iTunes notion of one-song-at-a-time—Abbey Road is the audiophile's album of choice, the perfect example of a record you put on the turntable and are committed to hearing the whole way through.

And, if early 2010 sales are an indication, the trend to re-acquire classics is continuing. According to Amazon's vinyl sales chart for the first week of March, three of the top four albums were Jimi Hendrix reissues.

I guess, when it comes to classic albums, there is a growing market of people looking to replace beat-up old vinyl they'd forgotten about, and hipsters who want to get the best-possible copies of the classics, with all the artwork, lyrics and such. V Steven Sandor is a former editor-in-chief of Vue Weekly, now an editor and author living in Toronto.

Saturday open stage: hosted by Dr. Oxide; 7-10pm

NEW CITY Omega Crom, Order of Chaos, the Dead Cold; $8 (door) O’BYRNE’S Live Band Saturday 3-7pm; DJ 9:30pm ON THE ROCKS Bad Judgement wity DJ Crazy Dave; 9pm OVERTIME Jamaoke: karaoke with a live band featuring Maple Tea PAWN SHOP Jason Zerbin (CD release party), The Skylife, guests; 9pm (door); $10 (adv)/$12 (door) RED PIANO Hottest dueling piano show featuring the Red Piano Players; 9pm-2am ROSE AND CROWN Dwayne Spark's Project

HILLTOP Open stage/mic Saturday: hosted by Sally's Krackers' Sean Brewer; 3-5:30-3pm

STARLITE ROOM The Canyon Rose Outfit (CD release), Frankie McQueen, Type Monkey Type; 9pm (door); $12 (door)

HYDEAWAY�All Ages Art Space Share, Owls By Nature, Friends; 7pm

TAPHOUSE The Mange, Down The Hatch, Zero Cool and Alleycat Blues; 8pm (door); $10

IRON BOAR Jazz in Wetaskiwin featuring jazz trios the 1st Saturday each month; $10

TOUCH OF CLASS�Chateau Louis Tony Dizion (pop/rock); 8:30pm

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

WILD WEST SALOON Trick Ryder

JAMMERS Saturday open jam, 3-7:30pm; country/rock band 9pm-2am

YARDBIRD SUITE Mike Rud Quartet; 8pm (door); pm (show); $16 (member)/$20 (guest) at TicketMaster

JEFFREY'S Diana Stabel (pop/jazz singer); $10

Classical

JOJO’S–La Piazza Dasee House concert; 2-4pm JULIAN'S�Chateau Louis Graham Lawrence (jazz piano); 8pm KINGSWAY LEGION Dwayne Cannan (country, '50s/'60s, roots, originals); 7:30-11:30pm L.B.’S Molsons Saturday afternoon open stage hosted by Lenny and The Cats; 5pm MORANGO'S TEK CAFÉ

CONVOCATION HALL Global Bel Canto: Opera and Central Asian Music, Tajik-Italian (visiting artist), Rustam Duloev (tenor), Janet Scott Hoyt (piano), Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble; 8pm; $20 (adult)/$10 (student) FACULTY CLUB Madrigal Singers (dinner concert, silent auction); 6pm; $75 ROBERT TEGLER CENTRE Music of the Night: Wendy

Grasdahl, Jubiloso! Bells of Concordia; 7:30pm; $12 (adult)/$10 (senior/student) at TIX on the Square, Concordia Student Accounts, door

WINSPEAR CENTRE Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, The Roby Lakatos Ensemble; 8pm; $24-$79 at Winspear box office

DJs AZUCAR PICANTE Every Saturday: DJ Touch It, hosted

by DJ Papi BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Saturday DJs on three levels.

Main Floor: Menace Sessions: alt rock/electro/trash with Miss Mannered BUDDY'S DJ Earth Shiver 'n' Quake; 8pm; no cover before 10pm EMPIRE BALLROOM Rock, hip hop, house, mash up ESMERALDA’S Super Parties: Every Saturday a different theme NEW CITY LIKWID LOUNGE Punk Rawk Saturdays with Todd and Alex NEW CITY SUBURBS Black Polished Chrome Saturdays: industrial, Electro and alt with Dervish, Anonymouse, Blue Jay PAWN SHOP SONiC Presents Live On Site! Anti-Club Saturdays: rock, indie, punk, rock, dance, retro rock; 8pm (door) RENDEZVOUS Survival metal

night

TEMPLE Oh Snap!: Every Saturday, Cobra Commander and guests with Degree, Cobra Commander and Battery; 9pm (door); $5 (door)

SUNDAY ARDEN THEATRE On Stage Series: Carmen and David (jazz); 11am, 8pm; $50 ARTERY Kate Maki, Brent Randall (CD release tour); 7pm

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 37

(door); $10 (door)

BEER HUNTER�St Albert Open stage/jam every Sunday; 2-6pm BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Soul Sundays: with DJ Zyppy BLUE CHAIR Sunday Brunch: Jim Findlay Trio; 10am-2:30pm; donations BLUE CHAIR Sunday Dinner: Jan Randall (acoustic piano); 6:309pm; through March BLUE PEAR RESTAURANT Jazz on the Side Sundays: Don Berner BLUES ON WHYTE Toby B�STREET Acoustic-based open stage hosted by Mike Shufflehound Chenoweth; every Sunday evening CROWN Latin/world fusion jam hosted by Marko Cerda; musicians from other musical backgrounds are invited to jam; 7pm-closing DEVANEY’S IRISH PUB Celtic Music Session, hosted by KeriLynne Zwicker, 4-7pm EDDIE SHORTS Sunday acoustic oriented open stage hosted by Uncle Jimmy; all gear provided; 9pm-1am EDMONTON EVENTS CENTRE Vampire Weekend; all ages; 7pm (door); $27.50 at Unionevents.com, TicketMaster, Listen, Blackbyrd

TAPHOUSE Open Jam YARDBIRD SUITE Tuesday Session: The Sound Quintessential; 7:30pm (door), 8pm (show); $5

Classical

Classical

WINSPEAR CENTRE Hawksley Workman; 8pm; $34.50 at Winspear box office

CONVOCATION HALL Monday Noon Music: Music for solo cello by Bach, Hindemith and Cassado: Tanya Prochazka (cello); 12pm; free

MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH Edmonton Columbian Choirs: Offer Up Spring Bouquets; 7:30pm; $15 (door, 780.430.6806)

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic Bluegrass jam presented by the Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society every Wednesday evening

Classical

DJs

CONVOCATION HALL Edmonton Chamber Music Society: Imani Winds; 2pm; $30 (adult)/$20 (senior)/$10 (student) at TIX on the Square

BAR WILD Bar Gone Wild Mondays: Service Industry Night; no minors; 9pm-2am

WINSPEAR CENTRE Soweto Gospel Choir; 8pm; $49 (adult; Orchestra / Terrace / Dress Circle)/$44 (adult; Upper Circle / Gallery)/$23 (21 years of age and under) available at the Winspear box office

RED PIANO Jazz and Shiraz Wednesdays featuring Dave Babcock and his Jump Trio

SECOND CUP�Mountain Equipment Co-op Live music every Sunday; 2-4pm TAPHOUSE Omega Crom, guests

ROBERTSON WESLEY UNITED CHURCH Baroque Music Society: Boundless Baroque (clarinet, soprano); 3pm; $23 (adult)/$18 (student/senior) at Gramophone, TIX on the Square

LUCKY 13 Industry Night with DJ Chad Cook every Monday

BUDDY'S DJ Bobby Beatz; 9pm; Drag Queen Performance; no cover before 10pm

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Sleeman Mondays: live music monthly; no cover

MONDAY BLUES ON WHYTE George Taylor, Russell Jackson DEVANEY'S IRISH PUB Open stage Mondays with Ido Vander Laan and Scott Cook; 8-12; Jesse D FILTHY MCNASTY Savannah, This is War, Omega Crom; free

MACLAB CENTRE�Leduc Peter Puffin; 2pm; $18 (adult)/$14 (child under 12) at TIX on the Square

HAVEN The Camaromance, Ian Kelly; 7:30pm (door); $10 (door)

NEWCASTLE Sunday Soul Service (acoustic jam): Willy James and Crawdad Cantera; 3-6:30pm

NEW CITY This Will Hurt you Mondays: Johnny Neck and his Job present mystery musical guests

O’BYRNE’S Open mic Sunday with Robb Angus (Wheat Pool); 9:30pm-1am ON THE ROCKS Battle of the Bands: Danl Jean, JFR Proje t, Throttle ORLANDO'S 2 Sundays Open Stage Jam hosted by The Vindicators (blues/rock); 3-8pm ROYAL COACH�Chateau Louis Petro Polujin (classical guitar); 8pm SABOR DIVINO Helena Magerowski (CD release party), The Andrew Glover Quintet;

FILTHY MCNASTY'S Metal Mondays: with DJ S.W.A.G. FLUID LOUNGE Mondays Mixer

JEKYLL AND HYDE'S� HYDEAWAY Sunday Night Songwriter's Stage: hosted by Rhea March

NEW CITY Open Mic Sunday hosted by Ben Disaster; 9pm (sign-up); no cover

BUDDY'S DJ Dust 'n' Time; 9pm

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

NEW CITY SUBURBS Get Down Sundays with Neighbourhood Rats

JUBILEE AUDITORIUM Jesse Cook (Flamenco guitar); 7:30pm; tickets at TicketMaster

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Eclectic Nonsense, Confederacy of Dunces, Dad Rock, TJ Hookah and Rear Admiral Saunders

DJs

FESTIVAL PLACE Barra MacNeils (Celtic); 7:30pm; $36 (table)/$34 (box)/$30 (theatre) at Festival Place box office, TicketMaster

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

38 // MUSIC

TicketMaster

ROSE BOWL/ROUGE LOUNGE The Legendary Rose Bowl Monday Jam: hosted by Sean Brewer; 9pm

$55/$85 (pair) at Sabor Divino (incl copy of Possibilities, hors d'oeuvres, wine tasting, desserts and entertainment)

PLEASANTVIEW COMMUNITY HALL Acoustic instrumental old time fiddle jam hosted by the Wild Rose Old Tyme Fiddlers Society; 7pm REXALL PLACE Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Against Me, Cancer Bats; all ages; 5:45pm (door), 6:45pm (show); $29.50, $39, $49 at TicketMaster PROHIBITION Chicka-Dee-Jay Monday Night: Soul, R&B, British Invasion, Ska, Rocksteady, and more with Michael Rault REXALL PLACE Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Against Me, Cancer Bats; all ages; 5:45pm (door), 6:45pm (show); $29.50, $42.50 at

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

NEW CITY LIKWID LOUNGE Daniel and Fowler (eclectic tunes)

TUESDAY BLUES ON WHYTE George Taylor, Russell Jackson BRIXX Troubadour Tuesday: Stephen Maguire (Irish folk singer), hosted by Mark Feduk; 9pm (door); $8 (door) CROWN Underground At The Crown: underground, hip hop with DJ Xaolin and Jae Maze; open mic; every Tuesday; 10pm; $3 THE DRUID IRISH PUB Open stage with Chris Wynters; 9pm EMPRESS Wax Mannequin, the Burning Hell with Vish Khanna; 9pm L.B.’S Ammar’s Moosehead Tuesday night open stage; 9pm1am; featuring guests; hosted by Mark Ammar and Noel (Big Cat) Mackenzie this week featuring Johnny Bowmeister and Paul Van Ramshorst NEW CITY LIQWID LOUNGE

Every Tuesday open stage: Hosted

by Ben Disaster; 9pm

O’BYRNE’S Celtic Jam with Shannon Johnson and friends OVERTIME Tuesday acoustic jam hosted by Robb Angus SECOND CUP�124 Street Open mic every Tuesday; 8-10pm SECOND CUP�Stanley Milner Library Open mic every Tuesday; 7-9pm SIDELINERS Tuesday All Star Jam with Alicia Tait and Rickey Sidecar; 8pm STEEPS�Old Glenora Every Tuesday Open Mic; 7:30-9:30pm

DJs BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: CJSR’s Eddie Lunchpail; Wooftop: with DJ Gundam BUDDY'S DJ Arrow Chaser; 9pm

OVERTIME Dueling pianos featuring The Ivory Club PAWN SHOP St Paddys Day Massacre: Six Guns Over Tombstone, No Heat Tomorrow, E Town Beatdown, Shakedowns; 8pm (door); $8

PROHIBITION Wednesdays with Roland Pemberton III

RIVER CREE Wednesdays Live Rock Band hosted by Yukon Jack; 7:30-9pm SECOND CUP�Mountain Equipment Open Mic every Wednesday, 8-10pm STEEPS TEA LOUNGE�College

ESMERALDA’S Retro every Tuesday; no cover with student ID

Plaza Open mic every Wednesday; hosted by Ernie Tersigni; 8pm

NEW CITY LIKWID LOUNGE ‘abilly, Ghoul-rock, spooky with DJ Vylan Cadaver

STEEPS TEA LOUNGE� Whyte Ave Open mic every Wednesday; 8pm

WEDNESDAY

TEMPLE Wyld Style Wednesday: Live hip hop; $5

BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Glitter Gulch Wednesdays: live music once a month

Classical

BLUES ON WHYTE George Taylor, Russell Jackson BRIXX St. Patrick’s Day: Greg O’Gory spinning tunes; 4-8pm; Eats & Beats to follow COPPERPOT RESTAURANT Live jazz every Wednesday night; Dave Babcock Trio; 6-9pm CROWN Creative original Jam Wednesdays (no covers): hosted

by Dan and Miguel; 9:30pm12:30am CROWN AND ANCHOR St Patricks Day: Jake Ian Band DEVANEY'S Open mic every Wed; Celtic music DV8 St Patrick's Day show with Tribal Garage; 9pm; $6 EDDIE SHORTS Wednesday open stage, band oriented, hosted

by Chuck Rainville; 9pm-1am THE EMPRESS St Patrick's Day; 1pm FESTIVAL PLACE Quartette; 7:30pm; $36 (table)/$34 (box)/$30 (theatre) at the Festival Place box office FIDDLER'S ROOST Little Flower Open Stage Wednesdays with Brian Gregg; 8pm-12 HAVEN Open stage with Jonny Mac; 8:30pm; no cover LEVEL 2 LOUNGE Open mic NEW CITY Circ-O-RamaLicious: Gypsy and circus fusion spectaculars; last Wednesday every month

CONVOCATION HALL Doctor of Music Recital: Victoria Reiswich-Dapp (piano); 8pm; free MCDOUGALL UNITED CHURCH Music Wednesdays at Noon: Aldin Lowrey and Ariane Lowrey (trombone and piano); 12:10 -12:50pm; free WINSPEAR CENTRE Mozart's Oboe Concerto; Lucas Waldin (conductor), Lidia Khaner (oboe); 7:30pm

DJs BANK ULTRA LOUNGE Wednesday Nights: with DJ Harley BLACK DOG FREEHOUSE Main Floor: Blue Jay’s Messy Nest Wednesday Night: Brit pop, new wave, punk, rock ‘n’ roll with LL Cool Joe BUDDY'S DJ Dust 'n' Time; 9pm; no cover before 10pm IVORY CLUB DJ ongoing every Wednesday; open DJ night; 9pmclose; all DJs welcome to spin a short set NEW CITY LIKWID LOUNGE DJ Roxxi Slade (indie, punk and metal) NEW CITY SUBURBS Shake It: with Greg Gory and Eddie Lunchpail; no minors; 9pm (door) RED STAR Guest DJs every Wednesday STARLITE ROOM Wild Style Wednesdays: Hip-Hop; 9pm

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 39

40 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

PREVUE // STEPHEN FEARING

Married to his music Fearing looks back while stepping forward

songwriter, you had to keep it all to yourself. I had a very thin view of cowriting—I thought it was the slippery slope before you wrote a kids' record," he deadpans. "And then when Blackie & the Rodeo Kings formed, I had my eyes opened. Since then, I've really welcomed the opportunity the write and perform with as many different people as I could. I love to collaborate."

And just like that Fearing has spread his talents around. A multi-Juno winning singer-songwriter, collaborator and now producer, his love for every aspect of creating music is what continues to motivate him, and what inspired the title of his new album, The Man Who Married Music. More a personal retrospective than a "great-

LONESOME NO MORE >> Stephen Fearing warms up to collaborations Mike Angus // mikeangus@vueweekly.com

F

or Canadian folksinger-songwriter Stephen Fearing, the road to success has had its share of detours, but none that he seems eager to complain about. In fact, when I talk to him over the phone from Calgary, he's affable and energetic when discussing both the potential pitfalls of releasing a

est hits," he chose to release it not as a bookend to his career, but as a way of marking the end of an era: his relationship with long-time record label True North Records.

"There was this haunting feeling in the back of my head that people might think this was the end of my career. I really want people to get a sense that on one hand I was marking the end of a chapter with True North Records. It was really the end of an era for me, so I wanted to mark it. But I also wanted to let people know that it wasn't the end of my career, that I was very much going to be moving forward, hence the two new songs," he explains. "I picked tunes that I figure I enjoyed the most, that my audience has enjoyed, and how they sit side-by-side.

The other half of his career, with B&RK, sees an exciting new project on the horizon as well. Set to be released early next year, it will be called Kings

and Queens, where every song will feature a female guest, ranging from Emmylou Harris to Cassandra Wilson.

"The idea came up one night in the van. We just started talking about all the different women we've had the pleasure of working over the years, so we just started making lists for the hell of it," he chuckles. "Of course, with Colin being such a networker as a producer and writer, I remember thinking, this isn't just pie in the sky, this is actually possible, that we could call up Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams and Rosanne Cash, and that they would work with us on this record," he marvels. "Serena Ryder, Pam Tillis, Sam Phillips, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Holly Cole ... it's really exciting." V Fri, Mar 12 (7:30pm) Stephen Fearing With Andy White Horizon Stage, $25

// Supplied

"greatest hits" album, as well as his growing fame with the iconic rootsrock outfit Blackie & the Rodeo Kings.

Having picked up the guitar at age 13 while living in Dublin, Ireland, Fearing had developed determination— "stubbornness," as he calls it—about going it alone until his later collaborations with B&RK. "Somewhere I got this idea a long time ago that to be the solo singer

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 41

42 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

PREVUE // DARREN FRANK

Coming home David Berry

// david@vueweekly.com

W

hen Darren Frank pulled up his roots in good old our town and headed for Vancouver, he did so for the reasons familiar to any number of young Edmontonians: new opportunities, a chance to live in a dynamic and unique city, and just a little touch of wanting to leave behind some of a particular history.

It was, as is often the case, a fresh start: but it hasn't quite been everything Frank envisioned.

"I thought it might re-energize me, but, well, it hasn't," Frank states, ahem, frankly, about his yearlong residence in the coastal city. His new full-length, That Lived-in Look, has been recorded for almost that long, but Frank hasn't been able to release it until now. The gray wetness of a Vancouver winter isn't quite an improvement over the sunny harshness of an Edmonton one. And as with any time you set off into a new place, you give up that network and connections that you've built. Not that Frank is wallowing in it. "I think I've really just learned that changing your surroundings doesn't necessarily change your inner self."

And that seems to be coming along now. After hooking up with another group of Edmonton ex-pats, indie-poppers Yes Nice, Frank has felt a rejuvenation of sorts, and he and the band have taken to the road. It's given Frank a chance to once again live in his expansive-but-personal pop melodies, and find that sweet spot that keeps him returning to making music.

"It's really kind of a hot-and-cold thing: I mean, just like with molecules, when something's cold, the molecules are still moving, they're just not going as fastâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;then everything heats up and really gets going," explains Frank, who has obviously found a lot

BACK FROM THE COAST >> Darren Frank returns // Eden Munro of reasons to heat up while travelling across interior BC and southern Alberta. Small town shows come with their own kind of unique charm.

"We were in Nanton last night, and we witnessed this fight between the bartender and another woman," he explains with a laugh. "It was back and forth, and it ended with something like, 'Well why don't you fix your kids and get them out of prison,' or something to that effect. Real small-town, everybody-knows-your-business, for-the-jugular stuff. It really set the mood for the show. I think we snakecharmed them, though." V Sat, Mar 13 (8 pm) Darren Frank With Yes Nice The ARTery, $7

MAR 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 43

PREVUE // KATE MAKI

The searchers

Kate Maki emerges from the desert with Two Song Wedding Mary Christa O'Keefe // marychrista@vueweekly.com

T

he desert changes people. No other landscape is sealed in the human imagination as a sort of open-air cathedral, a forbidding place of private, intense communion with the self and the grandest forces of the universe. It's transformational magic unfolds in the gaps between the scales, between the overwhelming majesty of the bold-stroked features of land and sky and the beauteous plenty hidden in the illusion of sausterity, from shattered quartz sand to toehold-niched biota. This mythic cradle of reckoning may at first be a landscape of deprivation, but a closer eye discerns both its permanence and fragility.

Close to a year ago, Sudbury-based Kate Maki cloaked herself in the desert, decamping to a legendary Tucson recording studio to make her fourth independent release, Two Song Wedding (hear the sly pun?). The record echoes its desert surroundings in spirit, flavours and shifting temperaments, embracing its scales and themes. It's a hand-built masterpiece of thrill and ache, reversals, ambiguities, doubt and love, and Maki by turns is flinty and plaintive, searching and resigned, creative and destructive. The songs drink from a river fed by many streams: southwestern-tanged roots, a delicate nostalgic psychedelia, dark gleaming folk.

"I'm used to recording in entirely different circumstances," Maki laughs quietly.

"In my basement, in the middle of winter; lots of beer, lots of friends. Two Song was recorded in the desert, during the day, with strangers, in the incredible heat. The songs didn't quite belong with my other songs. It was not very jovial. I was really challenged. I was really nervous."

Maki is, in music and conversation, disarmingly and occasionally unsettlingly bare. She makes no bones, but strips away cocooning flesh so the structure and substance of people, places, events,

44 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

TWO OF A KIND >> Kate Maki is on tour with fellow Eastern Canadian songwriter Brent Randall // Mat Dunlap and emotions lie glisteningly naked, without pretense.

"These songs are kind of creepy and weird," she ventures. "I have another 20 songs, but these are different somehow.

Over the past couple years, two kinds of songs have sort of presented themselves.

I usually don't think at all when I'm making an album—it's all feeling, intuition, what comes naturally. Whatever record is ready to go is the one I put out. For Two Song, I grouped songs that resonated with a certain mood, and in structure and arrangements. There could be overlaps, but these seemed to call out together."

Booking only three days in the studio, she asked a handful of regional musicians to help her texture the songs.

"I owe a lot to the Tucson players," Maki says. "There was no planning, no preproduction. These great musicians— people who play with Neko Case, Giant Sand, Calexico—came in and out as they could. We didn't rehearse. We'd set up and I'd say to whoever was there: 'Here's the mood I feel; play whatever.' Every-

thing is second or third takes, all live, no overdubbing, on tape. No one was showy, nothing too forced."

Yet desert redemption demands suffering. "I started losing my voice—you can hear it falling away. By the third day, I'm trying hard for breath. I had pinkeye, strep throat, I was dry and uncomfortable."

Maki thought she'd re-record in Canada, saving what she could. Six months later, though: "I was struck by the longing and straining in my voice. And it sort of worked. It doesn't get more naked, personal and raw. Thankfully, that's also maybe why people might respond to it. It's your own. It's a feeler. I'm not telling you how to feel through it, how to take it. " She's simply asking you to retrace her steps, searching in the desert for truths, big and small. V Sun, Mar 14 (7 pm) Kate Maki With Brent Randall The ARTery, $5

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 45

ALBUM REVIEWS

New Sounds

Gonjasufi A Sufi and a Killer (Warp) 

Roland Pemberton // roland@vueweekly.com

H

ow did this happen? Warp has transformed into one of the leading fringe pop labels of the new decade after being a boutique for recluses who built their own keyboards and collected obscure Detroit techno white labels during its earlier years. And in a new year that promises releases from Born Ruffians, Jamie Lidell, Flying Lotus and Autechre, it seems that the label's best achievement in ages could be the genre-defying debut effort from a Nevada desert-dwelling yoga instructor called Gonjasufi.

A Sufi and a Killer (titled as such for mostly being produced by Californian beatminer Gaslamp Killer) delivers on the promise of the iPod: all of our music marching together at our beck and call with no need for boundaries. There are touches of the Middle Eastern freak beats of Timbaland and the atmosphere of Endtroducingera DJ Shadow but ostensibly, this is a throwback to psychedelic soul as taught in the school of J Dilla. It's nofi rap and blues.

It comes across as a record lost in time, a space oddity trapped somewhere within a dusty fortress of vinyl.

For someone who comes from a rap

background (he used to rhyme under his given name, Sumach), Gonjasufi's singing voice is extremely versatile. He bounces with the samples, a scratchy growl typically bathed in amp feedback, haze and flange, but measured enough to emphasize on rhythmic cues and strike at the perfect points to stretch out.

Some of his performances are heartwrenching: "She Gone" is muscular, stoned psych folk about a classic writer's trope, but its dramatic shifts in melody and phrasing contributes to the artist's plea. When he croaks about how he "played father to [her] kin," he makes you believe it—or at least appreciate his method acting. Yet it's obvious that this record is a labour of love, not just of music in general but also of perverting accepted forms. You get the idea that at some point these songs were somehow even more embryonic.

Visions of ceiling fans and blunts and records playing to the loop crackles at the centre come to my mind.

This record makes brave, seemingly inexplicable decisions. "Sheep" starts off plaintive and vulnerable, but floats into a choral cloud and eventually crosses the radio dial into a Brazilian juke joint. "Dust" is a straight jack of "The Other Song" by Spirit, but it's done such justice and with such diligence that the source material is not disrespected. These records became Gonjasufi songs because they went through his filter. It's music that seems familiar but still attains a feel of the otherworldly.

It's somehow as if artists like Gonjasufi and Flying Lotus have reclaimed trip hop from its coffee-shop penitentiary, dusting dirt back onto the beats. While the album proves to be slightly laborious and repetitive at points, these are arguments that gel with the expressed purpose of the music. You are supposed to feel like you fell into a hole. This is soul music, but not purely in genre. This is soul that rises out of the ground, proving that you can't stop something that is naturally occurring. V

Spoon River Spoon River (Northern Electric)  Spoon River wears its influences like an inherited family quilt. Pieced together using traditional sounds and weathered tales, it is strengthened with bright new songs and the vibrant colours it's sewn with.

It's warm and a bit ragged, and if it sounds as hauntingly familiar as fog on the pond that's because it's meant to.

Tapping into a sound that picks up where groups like the Band, the Byrds, and Neil Young leave off, Spoon River weaves personal stories using the poetic needle of a collective North American sound. The songs "I'm So Tired," a wide open and wandering confession, "Buried in the Sun," a saddened and lonely wish and "Fool," a warning to a friend, are truthful and soul baring, never compromising and never pretentious. There are no digital voices, no guitar synths, no drum triggers here. It's all as real as the wood harvested to build the bending guitars and saloon piano that are played on the record, and as real as the vocal harmonies woven together to create this dirty quilt of sound.

Justin Shaw

// justin@vueweekly.com

The Canyon Rose Outfit Grizzly House (Independent)  The Canyon Rose Outfit sounds exactly like its name suggests that it should on its new full-length: soulful yet ragged, dripping in the springs of country rock with a decided bent towards outlaw branding.

Eden Munro

// eden@vueweekly.com

The Canyon Rose Outfit plays the Starlite Room on Sat, Mar 13.

Jay Malinowski Bright Lights & Bruises (Pirates Blend)  With today's music industry offering all kinds of technologically enhanced albums, I really enjoy coming across a stripped-down disc where it's just about the vocals and an accompaniment by a single instrument.

This is the strength of Jay Malinowski's Bright Lights & Bruises: he sings with a background piano or guitar, and the simplicity of the approach creates an immediate and intimate connection between music and listener. Think of a solo musician performing in a coffee shop: that's this album's ambience. Malinowski's voice does stray into a strained vocal tone, perhaps the only weaker point of the work. Still, songs such as "Narceritos" offer a political commentary, adding an extra dimension to the music.

Maria Kotovych

// maria@vueweekly.com

46 // MUSIC

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

Ron Contour & Factor Saffron (Fake Four)  Moka Only's dropped the "Moka" moniker to revisit an older one, Ron Contour. It's a persona morph that can't hide the fact that his character voice on Saffron is kind of a bland, forgettable one. At least "Cheese Toast Feast" makes you hungry for something, if only the toast it mentions.

Paul Blinov

// paul@vueweekly.com

Hollerado Record in a Bag (Royal Mountain)  Taking the basic components of a rock band and keeping them fun and light and a little self-aware, but without undermining the musical bite or veering into parody, Hollerado makes uncommonly good rock 'n' roll. The gritty drive of "Do The Doot Da Doot Do" and harmony howls on the chorus of "Juliet" highlight two guitar-led power rockers that reverberate in Record in a Bag's early moments, while "Americanarama" and "Got to lose" offer further takes on the same parts: bigger riffs, layered harmonies. Hollerado isn't new or revolutionary, but maybe just a little tighter, faster and funner than the next rock band. And maybe that's enough to set it apart from its peers.

Paul Blinov

// paul@vueweekly.com

Everybody was in the French Resistance ... NOW! "Fixin' the Charts" Volume One (Cooking Vinyl) 

As if somehow his love of and obsession with pop music wasn't glaringly apparent from his work as lead singer of Art Brut and his many songs about appearing on the now-defunct Top of the Pops, Morrisey and albums that are available at the supermarket versus albums that aren't, Eddie Argos's new project with Dyan Valdes of Los Angeles-based band Blood Arm—the lengthily labeled Everybody was in the French Resistance ... NOW!— will make it blindingly so. Designed as a response to the call of pop songs of the past, each track is set up as a direct answer to another artist's work. So "Billie's Genes" is written from the perspective of the child fathered out of wedlock by Michael Jackson and the titular Billie Jean and "G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N (You Know I Got A)" responds to the odd behaviour of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend." Though the songs are catchy in their own way, the album is best as a concept as opposed to something you could listen to over and over.

Bryan Birtles

ALBUM REVIEWS Yngwie Malmsteen Trilogy (Atlantic)

into a series of songs layered with keyboards that often seemed more pop than metal, throwing in speedy runs here and Originally released: 1986 there, but holding back just m o .c ly k e vuewe as often and letting the "You've released the fucking eden@ fury. You've released the fuckEdeno songs breathe, often with ing fury!" just as much focus on the fireMunr and-brimstone lyrics and smooth, Those are the words of Swedish neo-classical melodic vocals as on Malmsteen's guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen, guitar playing. spoken during a Still, the instrumentals "Cryflight a few years ago when a glass ing" and "Trilogy Suite Op 5" leave of water ended up in his lap. no doubt that And, unpleasant Malmsteen was the poster boy as the sentiment might be, the for shredders the world over words could also very well sum in the mid '80s, up Malmsteen's and looking back from today Trilbiggest contribution to music: ogy stands as an album that was the need for speed, delivered YNGWIE'S GLORIOUS FURY >> Released! at once the culin a fucking fury. mination of the work that Malmsteen's guitar hero predecessors—Blackmore, The guitarist was by no means the first to introduce a classical aproach to the Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen—had been doing for years, and the prelude to the disinstrument within the context of a rock mantling of the culture of shredding. band—the likes of Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow and the In an age where radio had been fraclate Randy Rhoads of Ozzy Osbourne's tured by the opposing forces of pop first solo band had already made visible music and the guitar heroics of metal, Malmsteen was the guitarist who unabacontributions in that area by the time shadley stepped into the spotlight and asMalmsteen appeared on early '80s recordings by Steeler and Alcatrazz—but sumed the throne by combining lightning he was the first to step into a role as runs and chugging rhythms with pop-like the figurehead for a style of music that structures, perhaps best evidenced by valued intricate fingerwork to an exthe album's opening track, "You Don't Remember, I'll Never Forget," with its granditreme degree.

Not that Malmsteen ever gave short ose keys and soaring guitar fills. thrift to melody. If his records are any While the popularity of guitar shredsort of marker, melody has always been ders would decline rapidly as the '90s very close to his heart, with even his fastapproached, Malmsteen's legacy is a lasting one. Legions of guitarists set est licks making an attempt at some sort of memorable series of notes. And as about following in his footsteps—often much as Malmsteen is best remembered on his old label, the guitar-centric Shrapfor the speed of his playing, there's often nel Records—and some of them would a remarkable restraint on his recordings go on to big things—Cacophany's Marty Friedman spent a decade in Megadeth. that sets him apart from so many of the guitarists who followed along behind Even in today's crop of metal bands, the him, all going after the crown of fastest intricate, lightning fast runs that fill so six-stringer around. many albums from end to end can often By the time of his third album, 1986's be traced back to the neo-classical metal Trilogy, Malmsteen had honed his focus of the mid '80s. V

OULNDDS

SO

HAIKU My Brightest Diamond Shark Remixes Vol 1 – 4 (Asthmatic Kitty)

QUICK

SPINS

Had this one for months It's been invading my brain Like the syphillis

kly.com

uewee

ins@v

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Whiteoyn Houst

Various artists Secondhand Sureshots (Stones Throw)

Amazing short film A mesmerizing glimpse that Should be days longer

Dead Letter Chorus The August Magnificent (Code One)

Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore Dear Companion (Sub Pop)

Some tinkling guitars Plus some tinkling pianos...

A lot of tinkle

Jim James produced jams For guys who write jams like James And learn how to shave

Miles Kurosky The Desert of Shallow Effects (Major Domo)

Wilfred N & The Grown Men 15 Items (Zönik)

The guy from Beulah Writes a Beulah-esque album, Shows junk in artwork

The essential Wilf In one sweet Wilf-ography Everyone needs one!

// bryan@vueweekly.com

MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010 // VUEWEEKLY

MUSIC // 47

PREVUE // BILLY TALENT

The right stuff

Billy Talent teams up with producer Brendan O'Brien David Berry // david@vueweekly.com

T

he runaway success of Billy Talent has brought its members a host of opportunities they never could have imagined when they were just a quartet of Mississauga lads starting a pop-punk band.

Besides its recently-embarked-upon stadium-headlining tour of Canada, the band has toured Europe both as club-hoppers and festival bright lights, and took home a handful of awards from across the spectrum. But most exciting of all for drummer Aaron Solowoniuk was the chance to record its latest, chart-topping album, Billy Talent III, with legendary producer Brendan O'Brien.

As the man behind albums like Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, Rage Against the Machine's Evil Empire and the Stone Temple Pilots' Purple, O'Brien was responsible for some of the '90s biggest albums, and he's only kept going in the 2000s, working with acts like Audioslave, Papa Roach and Bruce Springsteen. According to Solowoniuk, that made stepping into the studio a little more nerve-wracking than before, when the band handled a lot of the production themselves.

"This guy's recorded all of my favourite records; albums that have changed my life, almost," Solowoniuk explains. "When we first started recording, it was a little intimidating to be working with such a great

WHERE'S JOE DICK? >> Billy Talent took it's name from the guitarist in Michael Turner's Hard Core Logo // Dustin Rabin person, but once you start putting in those 12-hour days, getting it done, it was just really cool. He's got a lot of cool stories he can tell about your favourite musicians. So it was pretty cool to come in and hear a story about Zac de la Rocha as part of your day.

He was just a really cool guy to be around."

And that feeling obviously extended beyond just being in the studio with him.

Billy Talent III has been as successful as anything the band has done, thanks in no small part to a more booming, classic-rock feel that points to O'Brien's influence. Solowoniuk isn't quite sure exactly what O'Brien did to get that side out of the band, but it surely has something to do with the man's experience on the music scene.

"He has connections all over LA, and so when he wants a particular drum or something, he'll just call around and get it. All the drums we used almost belonged in a museum," Solowoniuk explains, still a little awestruck. "The snare drum I played, I think, was 85 years old.

He told me it was the same snare from the Nirvana Nevermind album. I don't know if that's true or not—I don't know why it wouldn't be true—but he just had all the right stuff." V Mon, Mar 15 (7 pm) Billy Talent With Alexisonfire, Against Me!, Cancer Bats Rexall Place, $36 – $59.50

HOROSCOPE ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 19)

create an innovation that would be as inSarah Bernhardt (1844 – 1923) was called timately revolutionary as Rohwedder's was "the most famous actress the world has for the masses. In fact, why aren't you workever known." She did a few films in the ing on it right now? early days of the cinema, but most of her work was in the theater. At age 70, she CANCER (Jun 21 – Jul 22) played the role of the 13-year-old Juliet in In order to heal deep-seated problems, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I commend people may need to engage in long-term her on her refusal to act her age, and rec- psychotherapy, patiently chipping away at ommend that you make a comparable their mental blocks for many years. But effort in the coming weeks. For exsome lucky sufferers get their neuample, if you're in your 20s, try roses zapped virtually overnight, something you thought you either with the help of a monuwouldn't do until you were at GY mental event that shocks them O L O a very ripe age. If you're over A S T R out of their malaise or through .com weekly l@vue 50, be 25 for a while. It's an the work of a brilliant healer freewil excellent time to do this kind who uses a few strokes of kaRob y of time-travelling. mikaze compassion to creatively Brezsn destroy their deluded fixations. I TAURUS (Apr 20 – May 20) think you're now a candidate for this You might have to use primitive means type of correction, Cancerian. to accomplish modern wonders. It may be necessary to hearken back to what LEO (Jul 23 – Aug 22) worked in the past in order to serve the To discover the most useful truths, you brightest vision of the future. Take your will have to peek behind the curtains and cue from Luis Soriano, a saintly teacher root around to see what's cloaked in the who carries a library of 120 books on the dark and maybe even explore messes back of a donkey as he meanders around you'd rather not touch. What complicates the back country of Colombia, helping your task is that the fake truths may be poor kids learn how to read. extra loud and shiny, distracting you from the down and dirty stuff with their relentGEMINI (May 21 – Jun 20) less come-ons. But I have confidence in Humans have been baking and eating bread your ability to outmaneuver the propafor at least 5000 years. But it wasn't until ganda, Leo. You shall know the hype, and the 20th century that anyone figured out knowing the hype will set you free. a fast and easy way to cut it into thin, precise pieces. Then Otto Rohwedder, who had VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sep 22) been working on the project for 16 years, The evil geniuses of the advertising indusproduced a machine that cut a loaf into in- try are hard at work in their labs dreaming dividual slices. I bring him to your attention, up seductive new mojo to artificially stimuGemini, because I think you are in a phase late your consumer lusts. Meanwhile, the of your life when you could very possibly media's relentless campaign to get you to

FREEW

ILL

48 // BACK

believe in debilitating fantasies and divert you from doing what's really good for you has reached a fever pitch. And here's the triple whammy: even more than usual, some of your relatives and cohorts are angling to convince you that what pleases them is what pleases you. So is there any hope that you will be able to hone in on what truly excites you? (It's especially important that you do so right now.) The answer, in my opinion, is a qualified yes—if you're willing to conduct intensive research into the idiosyncratic secrets of what makes you happy; and if you're not scared to discover who you are when you're turned on all the way.

LIBRA (Sep 23 – Oct 22)

If you were living in Greece in the fifth century BC, I'd urge you to bathe in the healing spring at the shrine of Asklepios in Athens. If you were in 19th-century France, I'd recommend that you trek to the sacred shrine at Lourdes—being sure to crawl the last half-mile on your hands and knees—and sip from the curative waters there. But since you're a busy 21stcentury sophisticate and may have a limited belief in miracles, I'll simply suggest that you visit the most interesting tree you know and spill a bottle of pristine water over your head as you confess your sins and ask the sky for forgiveness and sing songs that purify you to the bone.

SCORPIO (Oct 23 – Nov 21)

It's quite possible that the nature of consciousness is in the midst of a fundamental transformation. The human race seems to be getting more empathetic, more compassionate, and even more psychic. Many of us are having experiences that were previously thought to be the province of mystics, such

VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

as epiphanies that give us visceral perceptions of the interconnectedness of all life.

Even as some traditional religions lose members and devolve into cartoony fundamentalism, there are ever-increasing numbers of intelligent seekers who cultivate a more discerning spiritual awareness outside the decrepit frameworks. If you haven't been on this bandwagon, Scorpio, now's a good time to jump on. If you're already on board, get ready for an accelerated ride.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

This week you'll be working overtime while you sleep. Your dreaming mind will be playing around with solutions to your waking mind's dilemmas. Your ally, the wild conjurer in the ramshackle diamond-encrusted sanctuary at the edge of the deep dark forest, will be spinning out medicine stories and rounding up help for you. So of course you should keep a pen and notebook by your bed to record the dreams that come.

I suggest that you also try to keep the first part of your mornings free of busy work so you can integrate the full impact of the nights' gifts. And don't despair if you can't actually remember any of your nocturnal adventures. Their tasty after-images will remain with you subliminally, giving your logical mind an intuitive edge.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

There'll be an abundance of unambiguous choices for you to make in the coming days.

I'm not implying they'll be easy, just that the different alternatives will be clearly delineated. To get you warmed up for your hopefully crisp decisions, I've compiled a a few exercises. Pick one of each of these pairs: 1. exacting homework or free-form research; 2. pitiless logic or generous fanta-

sies; 3. precise and disciplined communication or heedless self-expression; 4. grazing like a contented sheep or rambling like a restless mountain goat.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Among Eastern religions, some traditions preach the value of getting rid of your desires. To be righteously attuned to current cosmic rhythms, however, I think you should rebel against that ideal, and instead cultivate a whole host of excellent desires. Use your imagination, please!

Here are a few I highly recommend: a desire for a revelation or experience that will steer you away from becoming more like a machine; a desire for a fresh blast of purity from a primal source; a desire for an imaginary pet snake that teaches you how to be more playful with your libidinous energy; and a desire for a jolt of unexpected beauty that reminds you how important it is to always keep a part of your mind untamed.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

I used to have an acupuncturist who, as she poked me with needles, liked to talk about her understanding of Chinese medicine. Once she told me that every human being needs a "heart protector," which is a body function that's "like a holy warrior who serves as the queen's devoted ally."

But the heart protector is not something you're born with. You've got to grow it by building your fortitude and taking care of your body. I think the heart protector will be an apt metaphor for you to play with in the coming weeks, Pisces. It's going to be an excellent time for you to cultivate any part of your life that gives your heart joy, strength, peace, and integrity. V

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BACK // 49

COMMENT >> LBGT

Trans-architecture

Urban development gives no credit to its queer roots In June of 2009, the High Line Park opened the walkway, planks and walkways that run in New York City. Built upon the long-de- asymmetrical to the direction of the bridge, funct High Line train tracks running and hints of original train tracks poking down the west side of Manhatthrough the new walkway, turning tan for 22 blocks, from 1934 to what used to be hard structure 1980, trains on the High Line into repurposed décor. helped deliver goods to the Before this radical refurbishm ekly.co meat market or "meatpacking ment? Seeds dropped by birds, vuewe @ s a c lu district"—a neighbourhood winds, and trains over the Lucas recently designated by NYC as years had generated a unique d r Crawfo the "Gansevoort Historic District." "self-sown" landscape for the vaThe tracks perch above street-level cant tracks. It was an empty multiat a distance of 29 feet, a feature meant coloured ribbon floating over one of the to curb the train-related deaths associated least-green cities, one in which space is at with mixing train traffic and foot traffic. an absolute premium.

A few disorienting—if not queer—sensibilIts neighbourhood was every bit as wild. ities of architecture are obvious in the new The area's serious leather scene, transgender park: the strange combinations of plant and community and transgender sex workers concrete visible in Diller Scofidio and Renfro's were recognized by even the most banal of (DS+R's) design plan of "agri-tecture," multi- pop culture representations in the 1990s: ple paths dissected by uneven gradations in on Sex and the City, Samantha's new digs

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are marred by loud and fun-loving trans sex workers, a trio of people of colour configured by the show as "half woman; half man; totally annoying." In his book Imagining Transgender, anthropologist David Valentine reports on his many years of getting to know transpeople who lived and/or worked in the district, which he calls "a rapidly gentrifying, semi-industrial neighborhood ... filled with truckers, dominatrixes, gay leather men, the occasional film crew and party-goers. Amid the crowds are dozens of sex workers—intelligible in the late 1990s as transgender."

Despite the well-known trans presence in the neighbourhood, the design competition for the High Line specified that some "community objective[s]" were to place "controls on adult/nightclub uses" and the "preservation of historic/neighbourhood character." What counts as "character" here is certainly not trans: "adult" trans

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VUEWEEKLY // MAR 11 – MAR 17, 2010

history—and anti-trans violence—are left behind as unmarketable relics.

What else lies behind this sudden change in scene? The major independent financial backer of the project owns a high-end retail store in the area: Diane von Furstenberg's foundation donated $10 million and is now producing limited-edition High Line-themed hand-towels. Rather than expand its uptown location, the Whitney will build a new museum site next to the southern entrance to the High Line Park, while hotel mogul Andre Balazs can already offer you a room in his new hotel, through which the High Line runs.

As with all "reclamation" efforts, we might ask: reclaimed from whom? And, for whom?

Urban studies theorist Richard Florida has a pretty clear idea: he predicts the economic success of cities through several measures, among them the "gay index." In Florida's "queer eye for the straight city," gays and the associated "creative class" we help comprise make cities suitable for big business by sprinkling around our special fairy dust of disposable income, cultural credibility, and inclinations towards fabulous gentrifying décor.

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doesn't put it so approvingly: they watched as musicians and artists were recruited to live in buildings, which would then be occupied by gay people, and eventually by middleclass folks. At a time when more and more "gay" people are indeed "middle-class folks"— or even more flush with pink dollars—what is our role in questioning the green-eyed controlling of public space (or not)?

From downtown to "downtown east" to the AGA, Edmontonians too have reasons to ask, "In what ways do we reckon with our histories of our spaces and why?"

Queer has long been considered an adjective as much as a noun—is it finally time to think through what might compromise a "transgender" orientation to architectural transition?

Where do they—and where do we—fit into your sense of queer history and queer politics today? What ideas about "cleaning up" cities do we (quite literally) buy into, and to what queer/trans effect? If no "reclaiming" of space done in the name of middleclass populations and tourists can white-out trans history and the ways in which we have failed it, then how can we do better? V

ADVICE >> SEX

Frankly urethra Dear Andrea: kind of freaking me out.

I have always had a interest in inserting thin Yes, I do understand that it is my job to objects into my urethra, and now manage a be not freaked out by this sort of thing. I large diameter pencil. It really feels thrilling promise, I can still answer your questions, and, depending on the mood, l tend to just with my legs tightly crossed as orgasm. My question is, how much high up as I can manage. can the urethra in a woman First, the urethra. There is no stretch and what dangers are question that the urethra, or at there? I have also inserted the least its surrounding tissue, is m ekly.co same into my cervix, are there sexually sensitive. The original vuewe @ x e s alt any dangers there too?

Grafenburg's break-out paper, a e r And son as recently discussed here, was Love, r e m e N Intrepid Explorer called "The role of urethra in female orgasm," and figured the locus Dear Ex: of internal vaginal sensitivity (what was You know how men tend to react to later called the G-Spot) to be the area of jokes about or images of scrotum injuries nerve-rich erectile tissue wedged in beby crossing their legs and covering their tween the urethra and the upper wall of crotches with both hands while making a the vagina. You stimulate the paraurethral vaguely humorous grimacy face? That. That area though the vagina. There's no reason is what I do when I get one of these ques- why it should not work from the other ditions, and I do get these questions. You are rection, with urethral penetration instead

ALT.

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OK, so assuming you are real and really female, you have already done this and lived to tell. Yay for you. Your job now it either to quit it (recommended) or find a very clean and safe way to do it.

I was intrigued to hear from a physician (this was ten or so years back, but not, like, 40 years back) that little girls are routinely brought to emergency departments with hairpins in their urethras. Where are they getting them? Does anybody still actually use hairpins? But let's say that "hair-

pin" was just shorthand for "small, easily accessible and inappropriate random object" and consider why the S.E.A.I.R.O. is a bad idea: small things get lost; easily accessible random objects are dirty, and small, dirty objects loose in your urinary tract will cause infection and may cause perforations. Either way you would end up in the ER later if not sooner. The only appropriate object for urethral insertion is a urethral sound (medical device, available from medical- or kinky-medical-scene supply houses), or something as smooth, appropriately sized, long-handled, and sterilizable as a urethral sound. Does any of that say "Use a pencil!" to you?

OK, now as for the cervical insertion: I will admit that it ought to be technically possible. The cervical os, even in a woman who's never been pregnant, is closed-ish but not entirely closed, and it waxeth and waneth like the moon. Otherwise, you would (extreme grossness alert) fill right up with menstrual blood and eventually explode. You do hear of people doing cervix "play." You do see pictures of such

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of vaginal; it all rubs you the same way.

Except for that pesky business about the vagina being thickly muscled, tough, flexible and dead-ended while the urethra is relatively inflexible and fragile and leads directly into the bladder, which leads to the kidneys, which you really do not want to mess with. Women have enough trouble fighting off urinary tract infections simply by virtue of our relatively short urethras: dirty stuff gets in and we get sick. We do not need to go shoving things up there on purpose.

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things on the internet, provided you are inclined to look for them. But that does not mean you should do it.

For one thing, there is pain. When you do hear of it, it is usually in the context of extreme pain play, and for good reason. If you have never had a baby or a miscarriage (I have had both, and may I add OMG) or really, really horrible menstrual cramps, you have no goddamned idea how much having your uterus cranked open hurts. That muscular organ, inevitably referred to as "fistsized," is usually clenched down as tight as it can go, and for a reason. Anything introduced in there can perforate, causing peritonitis and possible death, or just plain infect, causing peritonitis and possible death.

If you do not want to risk peritonitis and possible death, please, please, please just leave your cervix alone. It has a job to do and does not need you interfering with it.

So, in answer to your final question, ("are there any dangers there?"): fuck yes, there are dangers there. You ask, I answer.

Love, Andrea

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