Edmonton Headlines
Parking rates are going up. (Click for details.)
Well, Edmonton, we made it through the short week. Now its five-day weeks for a month. But it’s the weekend now, so that’s something.
While this story may be about Garneau residents trying to keep bars from spilling off of Whyte Avenue, I like the part about the City’s planning and development department keeping closer tabs on what’s happening with business licenses.
The Edmonton Sun says Councillor Karen Leibovici should not be voting on downtown arena deals, because her husband is an executive with a Katz pharmacy chain.
An inner city crisis team is touting its successes on the streets of Edmonton.
The Edmonton International Airport has shifted from “stopping the Calgary habit” to getting Edmontonians to “Unite for More Flights.” Essentially, the EIA’s new campaign to get people to fly out of Edmonton is centered on the fact more people flying from here could mean more flight options.
A couple of missing men in uniform have been found. It’s not clear what happened to an EPS officer reported missing, and it’s a sad end to the story of a missing soldier.
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Teachers are going to be cut because of tight education budgets, and the fight to get the Alberta government to pay for better education is on.
Slave Lake residents – those with homes to go back to anyway – are returning to the town after a devastating wildfire.
A couple of front-runners in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership (or, Premiership) race are talking about new rules and changes to improve government transparency.
As northern Alberta burns, southern Alberta is soaked.
Alberta’s only non-Conservative MP, Edmonton-Strathcona’s Linda Duncan, is going to be in the NDP’s shadow cabinet.
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Former Edmonton Eskimo quarterback Jason Maas is retiring from football.
New Year’s Eve events, parties, and jager bombs
If you can’t find something to do on Friday night (this Friday specifically, not just any old Friday) I don’t think you’re trying. New Year’s Eve is pretty much the party night of the year. Try not to throw up on anybody, and don’t drink and drive.
The City of Edmonton’s big show is at Churchill Square (and at City Hall, CBC Centre Stage, and the Stanley A. Milner Library).
It’s also family friendly at McDougall Church. And Haddow Park. The Haddow party even has fireworks.
And, if you’re looking for live music this is probably the biggest night of the year. Check out YEGLive.ca for a giant list of all the shows happening.
Some of them: The ARTery’s party, Raygun Cowboys, The Get Down and Fire Next Time, Stan the Man is part of the Tailgate Party at Sherlock Holmes (downtown), Dreamface, Mass Choir, and Sister Gray are at Pawn Shop, Deadmau5 is at the Shaw Conference Centre, jazz, latin, blues and rock (with buffet), Honeymoon Suite, and there’s The Party Martyrs are with Zero Cool and the Kroovy Rockers at Dv8.
Wunderbar’s not jacking up the prices, and they have Sherry-Lee Wisor. That’s a great New Year’s Eve. (She rocked our socks back at SOS Fest.)
SEE also has a list of places to party.
Casino Edmonton’s got The Rum Bros. Vegas Cabaret.
Actually, all of the casinos seems to be doing a little something.
Jekyll & Hyde’s celebrations benefit Santas Anonymous.
The Comic Strip’s got a buffet package with its comedy. You can get medieval at the Muttart.
And there will be approximately 3,218 house parties. I may be rounding up.
Don’t forget there will be free transit (FREE!) tonight. It even runs until 3:30am.
Happy New Year!
Feel free to drop New Year’s Eve events and ideas into the comments for people like me who still don’t know what they’ll do.
The Black Sheep has arrived
I’ve been meaning to mention this one for a week…
The Black Sheep Pub is open. It’s at 111 Street and Jasper, where Prohibition was. Which used to be The Stonehouse.
Hopefully they can resurrect the wing goodness of the Stonehouse.
They officially opened last Wednesday.
Pipe down, loudmouth
Our resident cranky lady, Janine Edwards, is back, and wants you to quiet down.
Darling Edmontonians, we have a problem. And that problem is noise. You see, our delicate ears cannot handle the terrifying noise that motorcycles make.
Shut-up, ambulance!
Living where I do, it makes sense. All too often, they rip through my neighbourhood, startling myself and my little old lady neighbour next door. They are ridiculously loud, and I was more than happy to hear that the city is telling them to quiet down.
But then, I saw that people are now complaining the sirens on emergency vehicles are too loud. Where do we live? Communist Russia?
The sound of emergency sirens are too loud? You would have hated bomb raid sirens during WW2. The common theme here: sirens save lives.
I live near a fire station, and I’ll admit… Occasionally the fire trucks will awaken me in the night. But rather than get angry at them I consider this: that emergency vehicle is potentially SAVING SOMEONE’S LIFE.
So maybe it jolts you out of your light sleep, but that emergency vehicle is on its way to put out a fire, stop crime, or give much needed medical attention to someone. Are you really that selfish that you’ll whine about the siren sound?
Other people on the road need to know the good guys are on their way, so that they can make way for them. Those precious seconds mean something in situations which can be life or death. So when I hear someone whining about the decibel levels of sirens, I want to push the mute button on them.
Rather than complain about the heroes, let’s stop a real noise menace! I’m talking about drunks and “woo girls.” I’m sick of trying to go to bed and hearing drunk people having their loud conversations on street corners. Of girls ‘wooooing’, and of overly loud laughter. I’m tired of waking up to the party crowd, honking horns, and arguments. Where’s the noise crackdown on them?
I want the loud mouth partiers to shut-up. Is that too much to ask? Go home! It’s a Wednesday night!
Is it too much to ask that instead of punishing the police and emergency vehicles – we give emergency responders duct tape for the jerks who wake me up, while they describe some rad thing that just happened at the club? Or they can taze them. I don’t care, I just want some sleep.
Feel free to use your sirens on the way over to taze the loud drunks.
We got taken to Funkytown
I knew I was in good hands.
Warning: I will likely make so many jokes about being funky, or just use the term funky, that it will become annoying.
Picture it…Edmonton, 1982-ish…disco was dead, punk was a thing, and clubs didn’t know which way the wind was blowing just yet.
That was one of my first thoughts upon entering Funky Town, a new bar on Whyte Avenue, in the old “Attic” space above Savoy, at Calgary Trail.
When I first saw the re-branded bar, I didn’t know what to think. I expected it was going to be the same old club music but with this “Funky Town” name. A name that harkens to a different era, and of course that song.
We were going to go there, at first as a joke, since we’re old and look more like chaperones than people who would frequent such a place. But when Sally mentioned that it might actually be a bar that tried to evoke the disco era I was truly excited to go.
They certainly try to catch that vibe.
Self-explanatory.
You know you’re cool when you walk into a place as soon as it opens. The music’s pumping but the place is empty. Perfect for snapping photos of plastic hand chairs, disco balls, and reflective bubbles.
The guys running the place quickly changed over half of the four television sets from the Canucks game to some kind of awesome retro music channel. It was to be on these screens we’d watch videos of the songs we’d hear.
Stuff like “Love Shack,” “Addicted to Love,” “My Sharona,” and “Everybody Dance Now.”
Yes, that mix of music doesn’t quite make sense for a true Funkytown experience, but it was good enough. Plus, the DJ booth had a cover that looked like a giant ghetto blaster and that scores you points, in my books.
The drinks weren’t any cheaper than your average place, a vodka and a beer ran us $12. But sipping our cocktails in what appeared (or was made to appear like) some kind of reptile skin-covered seats made up for that. I think.
We left before the sky was dark, so I don’t know if they keep playing the retro tunes all night. The crowd was mostly under 30, with a few faces that would have been just that in the days of the music we heard.
I’d go back.
Of course we took along our discerning friend Gregg Beever. The guy’s got taste, and we needed someone with that to help get a clear idea of what Funky Town is all about.
I asked him for his thoughts on Edmonton’s hottest new club:
It sure is a bar on Whyte Avenue.
I dunno, I really didn’t get a retro vibe. Did you? A name like Funky Town suggests a sound track of 60′s and 70′s music to me, and most of what I heard was 80′s. Where were the Go-go dancers? The bell bottom jeans? The plush couches and chairs? The closest thing we got was a disco ball! Lame.
I was prepared to have my socks funked off. It didn’t happen.
Won't you take me to Funkytown?
I’ll agree, there wasn’t a huge 70s vibe. You might be able to convince me of really late 70s, but the music takes you into the 80s and 90s and kind of throws it all off.
Sally says:
You guys are way too literal. Do you go to Supercuts expecting a trim from a dude in a cape? I think not! Case rested! Meeting adjourned! You are the weakest link!(?)
The most important thing to remember is that if you like going dancing, or if you’re the type of person whose idea of a good time is an 80s or 90s night, you will flipping LOVE Funky Town. The staff uniform is a tuxedo t-shirt. They have giant plastic hand chairs and faux-snakeskin booths. I heard Young MC, Robert Palmer and Aerosmith all in under an hour.
As for the not “disco enough” complaint, let’s not forget that we are very, very, tragically old. What was “retro” when we were young is now probably considered “oldies.” So our penchant for disco is trumped by the youngsters’ ironic love of music from the 90s (read: my actual CD collection). And it also bears mentioning that we were there at 8:10 p.m., ten minutes after it opened. They weren’t going to blow their real dance gold on the only three douchebags who roll in immediately after opening and run around fondling the plastic hand chairs and taking pictures of everything with their cameraphones (this would be why all the pictures are completely devoid of other people).
I would go back, but probably only between 8 and 10 (because I hate people, loud music and dancing, pretty much making this the worst place for me to be). I guess I ultimately choose to experience Funky Town as a loud, empty, ironically decorated pub.
Perhaps that’s a market they can tap…?
I give Funky Town 3 1/2 Cafe Mosaics of 5.
I'm in a bubble, surrounded by giant hands. And not even tripping on acid.
Like “Cheers.” But with guns.
This party is now cancelled.
By Janine Edwards
So, the City of Edmonton and the Public Safety Compliance Team are closing the Gingur Sky Lounge for two weeks. First of all, who is this “Public Safety Compliance Team” and why did they never find out what happened to the three-pawed bear menace that was stalking children in downtown Edmonton?
The second thing… why does the PSCT want to shut it down? This bunch of professional party poopers think that Gingur Sky is dangerous. Really? Just because there’s been a string of violent incidents at a nightclub… you think it’s dangerous? Wow, you guys don’t know how to party.
Okay, so there are fights, and shootings, and stabbings… but have you BEEN to Gingur Sky? The bar is filled with wanna-be thugs. I don’t think closing down Gingur Sky is the answer. Oh no. In fact, I think it’s the OPPOSITE of the answer.
Let’s keep the bar open. It’s in a shady, uninhabited part of Edmonton, right? So keep the nightclub around – and start using the violence as a selling point! Let’s make this bar into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Anything can happen at Gingur Sky! Bring your weapons – bring your drug money… Settle your scores on Saturday nights at Gingur Sky!
This benefits three main groups:
- The Police. Is it the weekend? Then you know that shit is going down at the club tonight! You know that come 2a.m., you need to get down there and bust someone for dealing, weapons charges, or a shooting. The Police should build a station nearby for just such an occasion.
- Journalists. Forget chasing that stupid peahen! Instead, you know that something is going to happen at Gingur Sky. Infiltrate the scene. Meet the locals. Stand with your camera crew across the street – ready to strike. The news will pretty much write itself.
- The Public! That’s right… you, yourself will benefit. You’ll know which bar to avoid, and hopefully, the bad guys will start taking each other out. The ones left standing will be arrested by police, and the cycle will continue until Edmonton is pretty much crime free. Chief Boyd should run on this platform. Wait – do they even run? Maybe he can run against Mandel.
Keeping Gingur Sky open is a benefit to EVERYONE. It will make our city streets safer, and give the criminals a place to call their own. Until they’re sent to jail.
Or, they’ll all team up and become Super Villians. But I think you need a doctorate for that.
Have a pint on me
Tasty beverage. Name of a new bar.
Last week the edmontonian reported on The Fox closing down. In that story we mentioned the Oil City Hospitality Group had bought the bar.
Now let’s talk about what it’s going to become.
The Coordinator of Responsible Hospitality Edmonton’s “Public Safety Compliance Team” said The Fox was a nightclub that attracted her police-badge wearing comrades. And it wasn’t because of cheap drink specials.
It closed down earlier this year ago. About 8 weeks ago, the Oil City group bought the location. Because it seems that’s their corner (they own The Bank, Rock Stars, Oil City Roadhouse and Fluid, which are all around 109 Street and Jasper).
Oil City’s Mike Sainchuk says the crime (like shootings) at The Fox hurt their reputation. “It gives us a bad name…to our area, being so close to us.”
He says (and the public safety team agrees) that Oil City Hospitality has “taken a lot of steps, security, to improve, to work with the public safety team.” (more…)
Walk This Way
Whyte Avenue on a busy Saturday afternoon.
This is the first in a series of community profiles looking at Edmonton’s “walkable neighbourhoods.” Searching online, it appears the condition of sidewalks, street lighting and other infrastructure stuff makes up the “walkable neighbourhood” criteria. I think instead we’ll look at what makes you want to live in the neighbourhood ,and how close the important stuff is; a grocery store(s), shops, businesses, restaurants, workplaces, transit and other amenities. Let’s say within a 10-15 minute walk. Agree or disagree, let us know what you think. Tell us about your experiences in these neighbourhoods and others we might not have walked yet.
WALKABLE WHYTE
Oil City gets foxy
Some reno work is already happening.
This has been a week of stories about bars no longer serving up alcohol in Edmonton. First it’s Stolli’s, and now it’s The Fox.
Until today, what I knew about The Fox could be summed up pretty easily:
- It was the scene of a some higher profile violence, like shootings.
- It was once called The Fox and the Hound (or Fox and Hound).
- It was downtown, across the street from a Swiss Chalet Express, which is local by the geographic designation of deliciousness.
Before we get to the new details, some background…
Whyte people like jokes
This story could test my “funny” skills, so I’m either going to wow you with my humour or play it totally straight.
Read on about Edmonton’s newest comedy club to see which way it goes.
