A night of fine Edmonton music
As we’ve talked about before, Thursday can be a great night for live music in Edmonton.
Tonight is one of those nights.
Over at Wunderbar, you’ve got a fantastic early show. Double-fantastic since you won’t be all groggy tomorrow at work. Cadence Weapon, fresh off his two-year stint as Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, is playing fresh material at the little bar that is big. He’ll be with Mitchmatic and Ghibli, so, yeah, it’s a huge show.
Down the street (the street being Whyte Avenue) at the Pawn Shop tonight you’ll be able to find Black Mastiff, Hale Hale, The Get Down, and Misha and The Spanks playing as part of the New Music West festival and conference. That conference runs through the weekend.
For something a little different, there’s Edmonton: The Musical up on 118 Avenue. Live bands, theatre, fundraising for local arts groups; it’s pretty much a perfect package of Edmonton arts.
There will probably also be music, if only as accompaniment, to Latitude 53′s Thursday night patio party too.
July 21 Northlands Headlines
Not yet.
Good morning, Edmonton. You know a day with downtown arena stories is going to be a busy day. So, dig in.
Among the news and notes from City administration’s answers to Councillor Ed Gibbons:
- Daryl Katz’s $100-million for the arena is more like $80 or $90-million, with the rest covering management over decades
- The City (you and me) will likely have to put up the money, probably borrowed, to cover the $125-million that will eventually be paid back through a ticket tax (that’s you again, if you go to anything at the arena)
- Katz Group and Oilers financials are yet to be fully opened up to City Council
- There’s nothing binding Daryl Katz to spend $100-million in development around the arena
- A community rink would be fully paid for by the City (why don’t we just build a couple of community rinks on the parking lot and call it a day?)
- The arena will cost more than $450-million when you factor in “soft costs” like design, street lights, LRT, transit, that community rink, sewers, and a bunch of other stuff I’m not smart enough to think of.
Northlands isn’t backing down. The non-profit agency wants to keep running Rexall Place if there’s a downtown arena. That likely doesn’t bode well for you and I making back any of the tax money council wants to throw into the downtown arena. There could be too much competition for arena events in a city Edmonton’s size.
On Northlands: They wanted council approval of $770,000 for new seats at Rexall Place. They got that. It’s money already in the Northlands budget, but anything over $750,000 needs a look by city council.
There were questions about Northlands’ finances (sure, councillors, I just happened to bring our audited statements with us to a meeting for a seat rubber-stamp…) and I suspect councillors will have an easier time to see the money details of Northlands than the Katz Group. Also, with council members sitting on the Northlands board, at least a few folks in City Hall yesterday should know how the non-profit is doing with cash.
Even a downtown arena fan thinks Daryl Katz could be the guy making all the wrong moves, and asking for too much money, on the deal.
Whew. That’s a lot of Northlands and arena talk. How about we shift gears for the rest of today’s Headlines? (more…)
Edmonton on April 12
Good morning, Edmonton. Another fine spring morning, eh?
Parking tickets will cost you an extra $15. Moving violations (speeding, no signal on turning, etc…) may also go up $15. This is all because of new provincial fees charged to municipalities and police for looking up license information.
I wonder if the Journal’s Gary Lamphier will get his interview with the Katz Group on his long list of questions, after publishing a column where he points out he’s been waiting more than a month for an interview. I’m still waiting to hear from the developers who want to build in the proposed arena’s entertainment district too. Some of those guys step up and I might start to feel good about all the tax money to go to the Oilers.
An Edmonton man who went after a police officer with a knife won’t be going to jail. Partly because he was shot a couple of times during the “acute psychotic episode.”
Edmonton Police are dealing with a lot more industrial thefts. I’m not sure what you do with all those stolen Bobcats and copper wire.
Let’s see what else we’ve got going on. Ooh, looks like quite a bit. (more…)
Weekending
It’s a weekend of engagement, city shaping, and thought provocation here in Edmonton.
Thinkers will be at MacEwan’s city centre campus for CityCamp Edmonton, which is a day of talking about local government and community groups. Planners will be at the latest open house on the Alley of Light. And skeptics will be questioning everything at LogiCon 2011, put on by our local Skeptics.
If activism if more your things, and you want to dance, I suggest Dance Dance Revolution, a fundraiser for G20 defendants, at the ARTery.
It’s the last Oilers home game of the season tonight. Which means the merciful end is near, Oilers fans. Oh, and it’s the last time Paul Lorieau will sing the anthem at an Oilers game. Also at Rexall Place this weekend, the Edmonton Rush are home to the Colorado Mammoth.
Anyone interested in short fiction should be at the Stanley A. Milner Library tomorrow for Dzanc Day 2011. We’re the only Canadian site for this day of writing workshops. At the Milner branch on Sunday, youth spoken word workshops continue, for the Edmonton Poetry Festival 2011, with Cadence Weapon.
The quiet before the summer blockbusters is on at your nearest movie theatre.
In fashion…The Fashion Event continues through Saturday. Get some fashion! My Filosophy is hosting its Second Annual Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation Red Carpet Event, at Latitude 53. Surely there will be ladies of high-fasion at the Bossy Mama Annual Spring Brunch, this Sunday.
Around the concert halls…Harry Manx and David Lindley are at the Winspear for The Winspear Presents series of folk and world artists. The Edmonton Recital Society gala concert is at the Muttart Hall at Alberta College. How about a little Bach to get you ready for the Easter season?
There’s some burlesque at the Haven Social Club.
Matt Machete is at bohemia tomorrow night. This guy rocks. There’s a Fundraiser for Walk for the Cure at Wunderbar, with Brash Tax, Miek Headache, Nick Watt and more; which means good music, great beer, and a good cause. Old Ugly’s Liam Trimble has a new album out and he’s kicking it off Sunday at The Pourhouse.
Of course there are LRT delays. Gah!
I know a certain local website which is working on a TV show that is always looking for your videos…
And next week is National Volunteer Week. Thanks for all the volunteering you do, Edmonton!
Update: I totally forgot about the back alley burgers. Tonight. Behind Hundred. 9:30-ish.
We heard your SOS
(Update: I’ve added a video story, and slightly altered the wording of this post from it’s first version Monday.)
We’re glad we did hear that SOS.
SOS Fest rocked Whyte Avenue this weekend. 150+ bands and musicians…20+ venues…wow.
We were talking about it for three days at a special “on assignment” blog.
I really enjoyed Dead Ghosts, out of Vancouver. They were probably my favourite band of the festival. The Joe tried to tear Wunderbar apart with his set, as part of an Old Ugly showcase. Cadence Weapon blew the roof off the Pawn Shop. And The Sherry-Lee Wisor trio kicked things off for me, setting the bar quite high.
I also uploaded a lot of my photos to my Flickr account, and added them to the edmontonian Flickr pool.
Plus, a few of my interviews from the weekend are now playing at our YouTube channel. (The story on the festival – embedded above – is also at our YouTube now.)
There are more photos, videos, links, reviews, and thoughts at our SOS Fest blog.
We’ll always take your own stories, experiences, photos and videos.
Check Twitter for more comments and updates from people who went to the shows, and played, this weekend.
That's Gregg Beever buying a CD from SOS performer Carrie Hryniw. At Funky Pickle, of all places.
Edmonton Reads
Edmonton has not one, but two representatives in the CBC’s Canada Reads 2010 debate! The contenders were announced on Jian Ghomeshi’s show (Q) this morning.
Edmonton’s poet laureate, rapper Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton, is one of this year’s panelists. He will be debating and defending Douglas Coupland’s book “Generation X”, which he feels is representative of him, his friends and the transient nature of youth. Pemberton’s choice is the oldest book on the panel.
“Anyone can identify with the characters,” said Pemberton, when asked to defend his choice. He also added that his secret weapon is his ability to say a lot of words in a very short time period.
The other Edmonton component to this year’s race is the book “Good to a Fault”, written by Edmonton author Marina Endicott, a creative writing teacher at the University of Alberta. Endicott’s book was nominated for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller prize and was named as one of the Globe and Mail’s Top 100 books of 2008. The book was chosen as a Canada Reads pick by Simi Sara, a Vancouver based broadcaster.
This is a major coup for both Rollie and Marina! The Canada Reads debates, which will be held March 8-12, 2010 are a big driver of sales for Canadian books. Hundreds of people across the country will read the book and listen to the debates to find out which book Canadians should be reading in 2010.
The other books and panelists in the debate are:
- Olympian Perdita Felicien, who will defend Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald
- Dr. Samantha Nutt, who will defend The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
- Author Michel Vézina who will defend Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler
The CBC Canada Reads site will feature a variety of podcasts, contests and information in the three months leading up to the debates.
If you’d like to stick with content closer to home, you can also participate in the Canada Reads Challenge at my site. To participate in the challenge, you sign up to read all five books before the air date of the debates.
Tune in March 8-12 to listen to Rollie and see how his choice fares.
Alexis Kienlen is an Edmonton based author, poet, fiction writer and journalist who reads too much. She’s one of the bloggers at the Canadian literary site roughingitinthebooks.com
