Icy Events
Have you tried walking out there, Edmonton? It’s crazy icy!
What that has to do with things happening this weekend is beyond me. I just forgot to mention all the ice and the slipping this morning in Headlines and felt this was a good opportunity to bring it up. The weather is also shutting down (at least temporarily) some outdoor rinks and toboggan spots.
So…anyway…let’s start with music for a change.
The ARTery has Spring Breakup w. special guests The AwesomeHots tonight and an art reception tomorrow night.
Martin Sexton is at the Winspear this evening, kicking off their new Winspear Presents Series. It’s going bring some great folk and world acts into that beautiful building.
The Sorels are at Wunderbar for Saturday night. We think you’re going to like them. We really do.
Sally says…Catch our Winnipeg friends Les Jupes at the Haven Social Club tomorrow night! Do you remember our story on Tanner Gordon? (He’s also on the bill, along with The Translators ). And FYI, Les Jupes are offering a free download of their excellent new single “The Mountain,” if you sign up for their newsletter.
Tonight at The Haven, it’s another Sound of Edmonton, with Ayla Brook, Mike Edel, and Tyson Motsenbocker. (Best name ever, Motsenbocker.) Heck, let’s round out the Haven’s weekend by mentioning their Sunday show, which is Rob Moir, with Twilight Hotel and F&M.
Back to Saturday now, with Jeffrey’s Wine Bar hosting Krystle Dos Santos.
Oh, and The Bounce Showdown Showcase goes tonight. It’s brought to you, in part, by Londonderry Mall, but I wish it was AT the mall.
Whew! That’s a lot of live music for one little weekend.
Winter Light keeps on rocking with Common Ground, at Giovanni Caboto Park. I have probably said it a bunch of times, but, I’m glad Edmonton started embracing winter with this big collection of festivals.
If you’re thinking about spring cleaning and re-building your kitchen you may want to check out The Reno Show (at Northlands) in the Edmonton Expo Centre). Also at the Edmonton Expo Centre; a gun show. (Please feel free to make “gun show” jokes…now.)
If you’re at Northlands…why not stop by Monster Jam?! The giant trucks take over Rexall Place this weekend. I bet the monster trucks win as many NHL games as the Oilers do during a typical weekend at Rexall.
I’m out!
Wunderbar
(Editor’s note: We love Wunderbar. Just thought you should know that.)
A lot of things are different at Wunderbar lately; a snazzy new website, slick new bench seating, a tasty new limited-run whiskey lager from our friends at Ambers Brewing. But the big change at the Whyte Ave. drinking hole, the one at the root of Wunderbar’s current popularity, are owners Levi Christensen, Chris Janke, and Craig Martell.
The three guys worked at another popular Edmonton bar for years before deciding to venture out on their own.
“We were like ‘We have an idea,’” explains Craig. “And everybody wants to open a bar, but not everyone has an idea.”
The idea in question? To create a bar that was community-based and thoroughly accessible to all.
“When people come here,” says Craig “[We’re] making them feel comfortable – making someone who doesn’t drink feel comfortable. You can come here and not have a beer and we’re okay with that. There’s not many bars in town where someone who doesn’t drink feels comfortable.” (more…)
Back to Winter, Back to Fun
Looks like a pretty good weekend ahead, Edmonton.
The weather’s pretty much returning to normal, but it should still be great for Freezing Man and Winter Light’s Illuminations. Freezing Man is a day of electronic and alternative music, while Illuminations is all about turning Churchill Square into what winter is all about, with entertainment, skating, and free hot chocolate. And a snowball fight.
The Edmonton Rush host Calgary for their home opener at Rexall Place. Go Rush!
The Edmonton Oil Kings are also home this weekend.
In music…Gorgon Horde is at Wunderbar… There’s a wine tasting auction featuring the ESO…CKUA presents Leeroy Stagger…the Sonic Band of the Month is Feast or Famine, and they’re at the Pawn Shop…Jordan Norman has a CD release at the Haven, with Christian Hansen (and no Autistics)…Ann Vriend is at the museum…yes, the actual museum.
Global Game Jam Edmonton is going to be all about putting together a video game (or working on a game) this weekend.
Tonight is Hip Hop on the Wall, a fundraiser for Hip Hop in the Park.
This weekend is the 1st birthday of the new Art Gallery of Alberta. Happy Birthday, you crazy, beautiful building.
And, on Sunday, watch for LRT delays north of Churchill (again).
A whole lotta Wednesday
The sun is shining (at least, as I type this sentence), the temperatures are reasonable, and Edmonton is ripe for adventure. Good thing there are plenty of options for your Wednesday night.
You can check out Ice on Whyte, which is ever so much more fun when it’s the Long John Index isn’t off the charts.
DemoCamp’s back, at the University of Alberta (Telus Centre), with new startups and entrepreneurs talking about their tech projects.
Sarah Harmer is at the Starlite Room tonight. The show is sold out. You can still get tickets to tomorrow night’s show (also at the Starlite).
National Treasure is playing Wunderbar, with Joe Nolan.
And, if you’ve thought about hanging some art around your home or office, but don’t know the first thing about collecting art, you can check out an information night at Luzzara. The coffee shop will have help from The Paint Spot to inform you about buying art and how to look like you know a thing or two about a thing or two.
New Year Events
If you can get out of bed this weekend, there are things to do. Even on New Year’s Day itself. (For New Year’s Eve see our previous post.)
Whyte Avenue’s fun, local coffee shop, Luzzara, has a New Year’s Day party (12-3pm).
As with every January 1, there’s a New Year’s Day levee at Government House. Meet the new Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta!
If you’re looking for a little music, try the Salute to Vienna at the Winspear Centre.
The Oilers are home on New Year’s Day night (hosting the Flames, no less), while the Oil Kings play Sunday afternoon.
Also Saturday night, Wunderbar’s got Energetic Action and Jazz (the band, not the genre of music).
*****
We gave Gregg Beever the holidays off. I hope he’s enjoying our generous holiday bonus.* So, here’s what I could find for movies that open this weekend.
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Michelle William
This is a crazy movie where Gosling and Williams play a couple, over decades. The movie jumps around between different points in their lives. Weird stuff.
Director and writer: Mike Leigh
Stars: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville
Another couples movie. What’s up with that for the holidays?
After the holidays, when we’re all back to working five day weeks, there are more movies coming out. Some of them even look decent. (more…)
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.
Caity Fisher At the Artery
A few months ago, I was at Wunderbar (which has rapidly become my favorite haunt; how can you not respect the audacity of a venue that dares to bring in live entertainment seven nights a week?) with Jeff and our buddy Gregg Beever. We were just there to hang out but, as we sat there, a lovely young lady with an acoustic guitar and a haunting voice played a remarkable set. Before I left, I asked her to give me a call next time she was playing, and we’d try to mention it on the edmontonian.
Unbeknownst to me, the girl with the guitar was Caity Fisher, from the Old Ugly Recording Company‘s roster of artists (and if you read the edmontonian with an regularity, you know that we are big, big fans of the crew at Old Ugly).
I figured this out about a week ago, when Caity emailed me to let me know about her upcoming CD release.
So basically, I’m a straight genius.
But enough about my inability to draw simple connections between logical events. Let’s talk about Caity Fisher. (more…)
Election events
Alright, so the election itself isn’t until Monday, and you’ve got no excuse not to vote so I’m hammering on the election.
Advance polls are open at City Hall today and tomorrow. You can also vote at polling stations in your actual ward Saturday. Find out where.
To celebrate all of this democracy you can Rock the Vote, Sunday, at the Pawn Shop. Sunday night’s lineup of local talent should show that Edmonton’s younger voters can get energized.
The Taboo Sex Show…naughty but nice…is back at Northlands. If you’re going, stop by The Traveling Tickle Trunk booth and say “Hi” to that great crew.
LitFest is here! That’s Edmonton’s non-fiction festival.
Saturday is the second annual Timeraiser. That’s where you bid on auction items with your volunteer hours.
If you like beer, and your kidneys, you should check out Sha-Bam, which is an event of beer, arts, and The Kidney Foundation of Canada – Northern Alberta chapter.
Wunderbar’s got a couple of good shows this weekend. Tonight it’s Warning to Avoid and The Mystery Ponies. Tomorrow night it’s The Party Martyrs. All good times.
If you’re in the mood for something bluesier, try Bombchan at The Common. That’s not to be confused with The Edmonton Commons. The Journal really hates it when you try to play shows in their lobby.
October is the scariest of months…as detailed in Gregg’s latest movie previews…But it also means Scarecrow Festivals, Howl-O-Wiener Roasts and the Boo at the Zoo. And it’s not even Hallowe’en weekend yet.
There’s also an Olde Time Fair at Churchill Square and Handmade Mafia at the Orange Hall.
And, since I really want to annoy you with talk of the election (Monday, October 18, vote, vote, vote) we’ll be doing a live show once the polls close.
So, at 8pm, curl up with your laptop, throw the Macbook on the bar for all to see, and let us entertain you for an hour or so, with one of Edmonton’s few live election night shows. More details to come…I’m just lazy…
10 things to do that are not eating turkey
Worst Thanksgiving present ever.
Enjoy the long weekend, Edmonton. We’ll see you back here when we wake up from turkey comas.
- Hit the market – It’s the last weekend for the City Market Downtown.
- Watch hockey – The Oil Kings play at Rexall Saturday, the Oilers on Sunday.
- Vote – You can vote in an advance poll, in your ward, Saturday.
- Enjoy the weather – 20+ degrees for Saturday and Sunday? Yes, please.
- Rock ‘n’ Fundraise – A bunch of Edmonton bands and artists are playing Wunderbar all day Saturday, to help get band N.N. to Japan Music Week.
- Holy Fuck – The band with the controversial name plays twice at the Pawn Shop.
- Hydeaway – Doug Hoyer is playing the Hydeaway. You need more Old Ugly in your life.
- Free cookies – There’s still time to get over to Luzarra, on Whyte, for Free Cookie Friday. Well, depending on where you are in the city. I don’t want you to crash your car for a cookie.
- Dance – The Brian Webb Dance Company kicks off a new season with les Ballets Jazz de Montreal.
- Eat turkey – You know it’s going to happen anyway.
I think what I'm trying to say is that I want you to have fun this weekend.
P-A-R-T–Y? Because we gotta!
Hey, our fore fathers didn’t fight for our right to party so we could sit at home watching people who think they can dance.
Heck, no.
They’d have wanted you to head down to Whyte Avenue’s Wunderbar for 7pm this evening to enjoy some local entertainment, local cake, and beer from all over.
A blog (and podcast) only get to turn 1 once.
We’d love to you see you tonight, so come say “Hi.”
You don’t even have to bring presents. (Though they are accepted.)
The Fringiest Events
Of course it’s the Fringe!
The 29th annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival is all the arts pages will be talking about for the next week. There’s also lots of stuff happening around Old Strathcona that doesn’t take place in a theatre or on a stage. This is the big one, Edmonton.
Morgan had a good point, don’t just try to see the 5-star shows. Ask people what’s good, what’s interesting, what they think you might like. You can always poke around Twitter, and try #yegfringe, for just such questions and inquiries.
Hawrelak Park is busy again this weekend, with the Celtic Festival. BluesFest is next weekend (in Hawrelak Park)…so get warmed up at Rusty Reed’s with Dave Babcock and the Night Keepers
EastwoodFest is Saturday, in the Eastwood neighbourhood. (118 Avenue, 85-87 Streets.)
Churchill Square, which the City has been trying to fill with more events and happenings, in between festivals, has the Latin Festival this weekend. Cha-cha-cha.
There’s Tomoto Fare too. That’s about tomatoes.
West of the city, it’s the Stony Plain Cowboy Gathering Society get-together. You can expect cowboy art, culture, poetry, and music.
Lots of new movies are out this weekend, like Eat, Pray, Love and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Gregg’s got your lowdown.
In music…N.N. plays an EP release show at the Starlite Room tonight, with Van Gohost and I.E.D. Sunday night at the Starlite Room it’s Fran Healy from Travis.
Falklands are at Wunderbar Friday night.
The Black Dog has some Hair of the Dog Saturday afternoon.
Over at Lyve on Whyte, Friday is Soul Train (with Crowded City Skyline and Hot Hand Phenomenon), Saturday it’s Rocky Mountain Rebel Music (with Brash Tax and The Party Martyrs).
Eddie Shorts has The Frolics Friday and Gaye Delorme Saturday.
Cirque du Soleil is in Edmonton, with Alegria.
In sports…The Prairie Football Conference (PFC) kicks off this weekend. 
Edmonton’s got two teams in that league. The Edmonton Wildcats are coming off a season in which they were western champs, and fell in the Canadian junior football championship. The Edmonton Huskies stunk it up last year, winning no games, and are looking for redemption in 2010. Those games are Saturday and Sunday, at Clarke Park.
From ShareEdmonton: FC Edmonton is hosting the Spokane Spiders (that means we could see Edmonton on all the Spokane affiliates! I hope Ana Cabrera talks about Edmonton.)
Whew!
What to do, what to do…
After what felt like an exceptionally busy weekend, seven days ago, this weekend appears a little tamer.
There's going to be so much art here.
But there’s still plenty of good stuff around. And don’t you even think this signals a slowdown. The Capital Ex, Indy, Heritage Days, Taste of Edmonton, Fringe run is going to test your festival abilities.
As Sally brought to our attention earlier today, ArtWalk takes over Whyte Avenue this weekend. And a little rain isn’t going to stop the art.
Rain also hasn’t stopped the Street Performers Festival, wrapping up this weekend.
Angela reminded us that FAVA is partying today.
In music…Lily Fawn and her Lullaby band are at at The ARTery.
SOS Fest participants Wool on Wolves are playing Brixx, Saturday night. Jazz is at Wunderbar. It’ll be like you didn’t even miss them last weekend.
Blue Oyster Cult‘s at the Century Casino, Saturday night. Peter Frampton is tenting it up at River Cree.
The Pawn Shop is holding an undiscovered singing competition. Don’t forget about the Party Tent. (How could you though?) And Edmonton has a new blues bar. Rusty Reed’s opens with Big Dave McLean.
Gregg will probably be seeing Inception this weekend. It’s one of this month’s more anticipated films.
In sports…the Capitals play ball. (That means fireworks Friday night.)
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.
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.]
Edmonton’s First October Weekend
Weekends are a time for good friends, good times and good cupcakes.
You smell that? That’s the weekend. And dead leaves. But mostly weekend.
Yes, fall arrived to remind us that we are but playthings in Mother Nature’s world. Enjoy the crisp mornings though, since they shall soon turn to frigid beginnings of days that are much too short.
And we can all rejoice, since this weekend is full of awesome.
Apologies for the random order of events. But, hey, it’s Friday and spending an extra minute trudging through possible fun options is way better than work.
Way better.
Let’s start with an event that will likely not be something you can do on a whim (stretching is not always enough, practice helps) the CIBC Run for the Cure, Sunday. Sounds like it will be a chilly start to the race. Cheering squads: bring some mitts.
The Handmade Mafia is back at it, Saturday. Let’s go buy mitts together.
For the outdoorsy among you, Mountain Equipment Co-op is doing a gear swap, Sunday. Bring your old stuff (or stuff from the activity that broke your leg and you hate now) and get some new stuff.
Pure Speculation 2009, is all weekend at the Shaw Conference Centre and Happy Harbour on 124th Street. Science Fiction, comics, fun.
The latest Homeless Connect is Sunday. This is where services and help are provided to the homeless. Things like haircuts too. Seems like a practical idea when I mention haircuts, doesn’t it?
The Edmonton Wildcats take on the Edmonton Huskies in the Prairie Football Conference regular season ender, at Clarke Park. Saturday. 7pm.
Speaking of sports, the University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas have another busy weekend.
Oh, and a little thing called the NHL is underway. And fantasy hockey.
The Anarchist Bookfair runs Saturday and Sunday. Which seems very orderly.
Friday night is Pecha Kucha 5. The “chit chat” goes Old School.
Some friends of the website are playing at Wunderbar on Whyte. Come check out Van Funk & the Lebarons, and say Hi.
Also Saturday night, in the party column, CJSR is having its Fundrive wrap party at The Artery. Do it. The catering is going to be excellent.
Kenny Rogers is playing at the River Cree Casino, Sunday. Kenny F’n Rogers.
Saturday, momstown.ca is doing mom and tots stuff at Bonnie Doon.
West Edmonton Mall has roller derby and a dive-in movie. Let’s just hope the kid at the top of the water slide doesn’t hold things up while engrossed in the film. But roller derby down a water slide, that’s something to see. (It’s actually going to be in Phase 4.)
Oh, and something I’ll likely be dragged to, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. For two weeks only!
