Weekend
Let’s begin this look at the weekend with theatre, shall we?
Just a heads up, though, LRT service will be disrupted north of Churchill on Saturday and Sunday.
The Citadel Theatre’s got Hunchback on now. It’s a new imagining of the Victor Hugo novel, not the Disney movie, from the minds of Catalyst Theatre. Speaking of Catalyst…over at the actual theatre, until March 19, is “Shatter,” about the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion.
Also until March 19, MacEwan’s Theatre Arts and Theatre Production programs present “Company,” their final performance of the school year.
The Brian Webb Dance Company presents Toronto Dance Theatre’s Pteros Tactics this weekend.
The E-Ville Roller Derby and Northern Lights Theatre are teaming up for an exhibition match/fundraiser.
There are a few shows around town…Kieran’s Art Trading Post is at Bohemia tonight…tomorrow is the Edmonton’s coin show and sale…and It’s Mom, Pop & Tots Fair weekend.
It’s another great live music weekend in Edmonton…
The Edmonton Show IV goes at Avenue Theatre tonight. It’s got music, dance, arts, and more.
Also tonight…Mark Berbue is at the Pawn Shop, with Ayla Brook and Old Ugly’s Doug Hoyer. (Speaking of Old Ugly…Jessica Jalbert is at Wunderbar Saturday night)… The Accident Will releases a CD at DV8, with DeSousa Drive and Bad Acid…The ARTery’s got Prairie Nights…Haven Social Club’s got a CD release from Christine Fellows, who will play with Shotgun Jimmie…and the Jimmy Swift Band is at the Starlite Room…
Saturday afternoon, Hair of the Dog has Samara Von Rad, which is a rad name. Saturday night Weird Canada (Canada’s best music website) presents a show at The ARTery that will likely blow your mind.
Gregg’s got the lowdown on movies actually worth seeing.
The City Market begins its run of Saturdays at City Hall, as preparation for it usual summer selling on 104 Street.
Oh, and Sunday night, Lucky 13 is hosting Carlton himself, Alfonso Ribeiro.
Have a lovely weekend, Edmonton.
Carts and Couches
It certainly is a week of photo posts around here. Is it obvious that we’re cleaning off our phones and actually looking in all those folders of photos on our computers?
Here’s a post dedicated to two things I love to find in Edmonton; couches and shopping carts. (We’ve done couches before.)
It’s the best when you find them in really weird places. (more…)
Of Edmonton Events
We have come upon our first weekend in the post-2010 election era. I expect candidates and councillors to be sleeping in the next couple of days.
There are a number of things happening if you’re not napping.
On your way home tonight you could stop in at The ARTery and raise money for HIV Edmonton while enjoying the end of the work week. Friday night, Dan Hill plays the Shaw Conference Centre for a Canadian Diabetes Association fundraiser. Justin Rutledge is at the Haven Social Club. Library Voices swing into the Avenue Theatre.
Still Friday, there’s a Bicycle-powered party at the U of A.
Saturday night, Falklands returns home from a cross-country tour to play Teddy’s. Yes, Teddy’s. This should be a good one.
M.A.D.E. In Edmonton closes out “Edmonton Design Exposed” with a party at Bohemia. It’s a little spot that’s out of the way but worth trekking to.
We are starting to see all of the Hallowe’en movies now. Watching movies is still a viable pastime.
The Oil Kings, Eskimos, and Oilers are all home this weekend. There’s roller derby at the Edmonton Sportsdome (and it’s even got a nice Hallowe’en theme to it, with Regina’s Pile O’ Bones in town).
The City of Edmonton continues its series of Hallowe’en events with Pumpkins & Pirates at the Muttart Conservatory.
By the way, it’s Friday, which means it’s Free Cookie Friday over at Luzarra. Head down to Whyte Avenue for a coffee and mention Luzarra’s free cookie tweeting. Then you’ll get a free cookie.
And, as always, the geniuses at ShareEdmonton.ca and YEGLive.ca helped me fill out your social calendars. Those guys are awesome.
This is also happening all weekend long. Pure Spec is at the Radisson south.
Are we having fun yet?
For those of you that have tracked down the TV show “Party Down,” that headline is all sorts of funny.
For the rest of you, it certainly leads us to a list of events that could fill your fun quota for the weekend.
Dogapalooza. You couldn’t name an event much better. This is all things dog, at the Westlawn sports fields. It’s really everything you could think of, even a dog blood bank. There will also be plenty of businesses and services on site (like our friends from Tailz) so you can get all the information you need to be the best dog owner in the world.
The Kaleido Family Arts Festival is celebrating five years on the ave (the 118 Ave). This is an all-weekend explosion of arts, with every type of art represented. Should be no need to ask if you’re having fun yet.
The Marketplace at Callingwood has Cornfest and Family Fun Day. Saturday.
There’s free yoga at the The Yoga Loft (10309 82 Avenue) Saturday and Sunday.
The Die-Nasty Soap-A-Thon is this weekend. The non-stop improvising begins tonight at 7pm and runs until Sunday at 9pm.
Corn Maze. There’s the corn maze.
Sally already told you about the CD release and show with The Provincial Archive at the Roxy Theatre. This is a band you need to start liking now, before they’re huge.
The ARTery has a neat new idea. They’re holding Friday Fundraising Happy Hours from 4-7 PM. Finally, your end-of-the-week drinking can help a good cause. In September it’s Room to Read.
Donations also get free popcorn!
The Bohemia Cafe is hosting a bandapalooza of sorts, Saturday. They’ve got Jason Myatt, Nick Watt, Micelli, The Party Martyrs, The Mystery Ponies, Brash Tax, and Animal Men of the Northwest. Whew.
Paul James is at the Blue Chair Cafe tonight. He’s a little more electric tomorrow at the Bonnie Doon Hall. Sally keeps thinking he’s Colin James’ brother or something.
It’s been Canadian Country Music Week in Edmonton this week. The big finale is at Rexall Place, Sunday.
Starlite Room has Capital City Burlesque Friday night.
There’s a Handmade Mafia, Saturday at the Orange Hall.
Oh, one more thing, the YWCA is holding its first “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” next Tuesday. That’s when men are going to walk around Churchill Square in high heel shoes. There’s still time to donate and be a part of this event, which is all about helping victims of domestic violence. Can you believe this is still such a problem in 2010?
Edmonton Events
Boring headline aside, this weekend has the potential to blow your mind.
Sometimes all you need is a good beer, a place to be, and a phone. The phone is in case you need to find a better party.
East meets West is this weekend, which is where you get the best of Edmonton’s Chinatown and Little Italy. And this year kicks off with Karibuni Afrikafest (happening now!). Three days, three cultures, three times the fun.
Good thing I check ShareEdmonton for events. I’d have never heard about the Outdoor Nite Market otherwise. That’s tonight (Friday), on 107 Avenue, and it’s got a little of everything. The best item it has is a reason for people to be out on the street at night, which encourages good things.
This weekend, Hawrelak Park has the first-ever Open Sky Music Festival. It’s all about surf rock, island rock and reggae. The weather may not say summer, but that music sure does. (If the festival’s website isn’t working for you, there are details at ShareEdmonton’s event page.)
Telus Field will be hosting a music event Saturday too. Rock The River hits our city.
Saturday night I’ll likely be checking out Bohemia for the first time. N.N., Touch it and you will say ow, and The Mystery Ponies are playing.
Eamon McGrath is at New City. That’s Saturday too.
Lady Gaga is still here. If she’s still in Edmonton this weekend I’m going to start getting worried we won’t be able to get rid of her. And I’m going to borrow her wardrobe.
Since it looks like we might have already tapped out the good weather you can always head inside to see a movie.
FC Edmonton gets its final kicks at its warm-up season Saturday. The team is hosting Miami FC. I wonder if they’re playing for the right to have FC in their name? There can be only one!
The Eskimos are home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Shouldn’t we be going to the games this season, so as to not appear as bandwagon jumpers if they get good again?
Over at the River Cree Casino there’s also the All-In for Diabetes Poker Tournament. Buy-in is $250 and you can claim $100 for knocking out bounties, such as CTV’s Daryl McIntyre. If you bring a bag of clothing as a donation you can get extra chips too.
Not so plain
Dear Friendmonton, you may have noticed that I do a lot of music stories.
That’s because – FACT - Edmonton has lots of music in it. (You just got LEARN’T!)
But with lots of music stories comes an unavoidable side effect: some of the stories we do about local artists become white noise. And that’s a drag, because it means that you’re going to miss out on some really neat stuff.
To combat this, Samsonow has asked me to write a music column. (Editor’s note: Awesome column name TBD.)
Essentially this just means that when I have a something really really good that I want to tell you about, I’m not even going to attempt to couch it as a “story.” I’m just going to argue you into submission about why an artist is awesome, who they are, and where you can see them.
Which brings us to plainclothes.
plainclothes is this fantastic band I saw at Wunderbar a few months ago. By the end of their set, my hair was basically standing on end. With their sophisticated sound, complex arrangements and jangly guitars, they’re the kind of indie rock band you’d expect to be from a bigger city, like Toronto or Montreal. But they’re not, folks! They’re ours!
plainclothes is comprised of four members, all in their late 20s and early30s; Bailey (bass), Bernie J (vocals & guitar), Levi (guitar & vocals), and Nate (drums).
I met 3 of the 4 band members (everyone except drummer Nate) for coffee at Naked on Jasper and found plainclothes to be a hilarious, deadpan bunch. Our “interview” turned into a lot of absurdist humour, pithy back-and-forth comments and vaguely self-deprecating jokes.
“The songs Bernard writes are really complicated and intricate and cool,” saysLevi.
He doesn’t miss a beat to joke about his own writing. “The songs I write have one note solos.”
I tell plainclothes that discovering them was extra surprising given that Edmonton has SO MANY METAL BANDS. I ask them whether Edmonton’s predominance of hardcore bands has affected plainclothes’ sound.
Bernie J laughs. “By necessity it creates this counter culture. If there’s a bunch of metalheads, for sure there’s going to be shoegazers.”
“The metalheads need someone to beat up,” adds Levi.
The band cites a long list of influences, including some unexpected ones like Brian Eno (Bailey) and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Bernie J). Their five-year plan is essentially to “Huck [them]selves at everything,” including recording and starting to play more shows outside of the city.
Those aren’t cheap plans. It costs money to go into a studio.
It’s expensive to tour, even around Alberta. You have to travel, eat, find a place to stay; and it’s not like bands show up in Red Deer to find a pile of cash.
So I ask plainclothes about the financial details of their five-year plan and they say that they take that side of things in stride.
They all joke over one another.
“There’s a lot of money to be made in iPhone apps.”
“Or we can become a cult. We can definitely make money that way.”
So, throw them a few bucks. Your next chance to do so, and continue to produce quality Edmonton bands and artists, is when plainclothes plays this Saturday at Bohemia, 10575 – 114 St.
[Editor's update: We removed the song from this post at the request of Bernie J, who is no longer with the band.]
